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• CSX Transportation plans to expand its RailComm Domain Operations Control (DOC®) system in Willard, Ohio, adding three additional power switches to the eastbound receiving yard. The system will include advanced avoidance blocking functionality for track protection.

• On Wednesday, Gary VanDeluyster plans to retire from Nordco Inc. after more than 38 years of service. For the past decade, he has been the Oak Creek, Wis.-company’s service manager, providing telephone and on-site technical support to customers. He also supervised the company's service, technician, service school and manufacturing test track groups. VanDeluyster started at the company, then known as Nordberg, as a draftsman in the engineering department in 1972.

• INIT recently signed a contract with the Utah Transit Authority to install an intelligent transportation system on more than 35 FrontRunner commuter-rail vehicles. Half of the vehicles already feature INIT's automatic passenger counting technology, and will be upgraded with the new system components. The contract calls for onboard computers, passenger information displays, driver data terminals and onboard announcements.

• Kinkisharyo International L.L.C. has completed engineering tests and trials of its prototype for the LFX-300 electro hybrid streetcar in Charlotte, N.C. The low-floor, light-rail ameriTRAM vehicle is now ready to be marketed in North America, Kinkisharyo officials said in a prepared statement. The car is powered by a propulsion technology that enables operation by overhead catenary or onboard lithium-ion batteries.

• Sodrugestvo Group has acquired Russian rail-car operator Balt-Trans, the second-largest operator of grain hoppers in Russia. Balt-Trans provides 1,875 grain hoppers and 102 box cars to the Luxembourg group’s logistics operations, which includes Trans-Agro, a rail-car owner, operator and freight forwarder. Sodrugestvo has received all regulatory approvals for the transaction.