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• Alstom Transport won a $156.4 million contract to supply 48 metro cars to the Brasilia metro network and modernize its signaling system. The additional cars and upgraded signal system will enable the network to carry more than 300,000 people daily — about double the current capacity — and increase train frequency to every three minutes instead of the current 4.5 minutes, according to a prepared statement. Alstom will deliver 12 trainsets comprising four Metropolis cars each; the stainless steel trains will feature a lowered floor and be equipped with illuminated information boards. The trainsets will be manufactured at Alstom’s Lapa site in São Paulo, with the first deliveries planned for 2010. Alstom also will equip the new and existing trains with an automatic train signaling system.

• Wabtec Corp. reported second-quarter net sales of $334.0 million, a 14.4 percent decline compared with the $390.2 million generated during the same 2008 period as “4 percent growth in the Transit Group was more than offset by lower sales in the Freight Group,” according to a prepared statement. Growth in the transit segment was due primarily to increased sales of components for subway cars, while freight continued to be “affected negatively by the global recession, which has led to sharply lower rail traffic levels,” the company said. As a result, Wabtec officials expect 2009 revenue to be about 10 percent lower than 2008’s total, with earnings per diluted share expected to be between $2.35 to $2.55.

• The Knorr-Bremse Group received the Queen's Award for Enterprise from the Duchess of Cornwall for the company’s EP2002 distributed brake control system. The ceremony took place July 23 at Knorr-Bremse’s Melksham, U.K., facility. The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise — the “most prestigious business awards in the U.K.,” according to a Knorr-Bremse prepared statement — are announced annually on Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday on April 21. The award recognizes the EP2002 as “an important new development in the field of brake control systems for metro trains and multiple units,” the company said.

• Gerens Hill International S.A. was awarded a four-year, $2.7 million contract to provide project management services for the Zaragoza Tram, an eight-mile, 25-stop tram line in Zaragoza, Spain. Two parking garages on each end of the tram line and a main central terminal building also will be built. During construction, Gerens Hill will provide risk assessment, budget control, change management and project monitoring services. The project’s construction cost is estimated at $265 million.

• RailComm announced that Commonwealth Railway will be incorporating the company’s Track Warrant Control functionality into its existing Domain Operations Controller System (DOC®). Commonwealth Railway has dispatched trains within CTC territory by accessing RailComm’s Web-enabled Software-as-a-Service delivery model. With the Track Warrant Control module, Commonwealth Railway will be able to seamlessly dispatch both its CTC and dark territory from the same control desk, the company said. Also, RailComm recently earned the Microsoft Partner competency certification in ISV/Software Solutions for its DOC® server-based train-control system.