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• L.B. Foster Co. was awarded a $7.6 million contract from the Denton County Transportation Authority to supply 115-pound rail for installation on the 21-mile A-Train transit project linking Denton and Carrollton, Texas. Shipments of 4,599 tons of 1,600-foot welded rail and 573 tons of 80-foot stick rail were delivered to North Texas Rail Group, a contractor joint venture between Herzog Contracting Corp. and Archer Western Contractors. L.B. Foster weld trains completed delivery on Aug. 1.

• Simmons Machine Tool Corp. signed an agreement with Beena Vision Systems Inc. to offer Beena Vision’s LazerView wheel profile measurement system for use with Simmons Stanray and Hegenscheidt U2000-400 underfloor wheel profiling machines. Beena Vision’s LazerView is a handheld electronic wheel profile gauge that can perform wheel profile measurements and record the measurements on a portable computer. Measurement data then can be downloaded into the Stanray or Hegenscheidt U2000-400 machine so the machine can be set for automatic operation to profile worn wheelsets, according to a Simmons-issued statement.

• The Timken Co.’s Timken® EcoTurn™ seal for railroad bearings was selected by R&D Magazine as one of the 100 most “technologically significant” products introduced during 2008. Launched in late 2008, the EcoTurn is the result of a two-year joint development program between Timken and Federal Mogul Corp., with most of the development work completed at the Timken Technology Center in North Canton, Ohio. The seal has no rubbing surfaces, eliminating virtually all seal-generated torque, which in turn reduces the locomotive horsepower required to pull a train and enables the bearings to “run cooler, last longer and require less maintenance,” according to a prepared statement.

• The National Academy of Railroad Sciences and MaxAccel formed a strategic alliance that will focus on offering an “intergrated approach to training and compliance management” for the short-line and regional railroad industry, according to a prepared statement. Customers will be able to subscribe to each company’s products and services collectively or individually.

• Flatiron Construction Corp. named Blair Brandon president of the company’s Canadian division. Brandon, who joined Flatiron a decade ago as a construction manager, most recently served as the company’s vice president of operations.