Rail supplier news from ZTR, BlackBerry, Cyient, Hitachi Rail and Bombardier (April 7)

ZTR Control Systems LLC and BlackBerry Ltd. have partnered to offer rail-car owners, operators and suppliers a remote rail-car monitoring solution. BlackBerry Radar® features location, utilization and mileage data for rail cars and other nonpowered railway assets.

Cyient signed an agreement with Hitachi Rail to develop and operate a central delivery center for Hitachi Rail in India and a regional center in the United States. The centers will provide engineering services for Hitachi's global signaling projects that use proprietary interlocking platforms. They also will provide software development and configuration support for Hitachi's ATS product.

The French National Railway Co. (SNCF) ordered 19 additional Regio 2N double deck rail cars from Bombardier Inc. for the Region Auvergne-Rhone Alpes. The trains will operate on the Lyon-Macon and Lyon-Valence lines starting in summer 2023. SNCF's $192 million order is part of a contract signed in 2010 that calls for the manufacture of up to 860 trains.