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• Siemens Industry Inc. has obtained an $83 million contract to build and deliver 19 S70 light-rail vehicles to the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO). The order — which includes spare parts, training and manuals — is Siemens’ second from METRO and will bring the total number of Siemens vehicles in Houston to 37. The vehicles will be manufactured at Siemens’ plant in Sacramento, Calif.

• The Greenbrier Cos. reported a net loss of $500,000, or 2 cents per diluted share, in the second quarter of fiscal-year 2011 compared with a net loss of $4.8 million, or 28 cents per share, for the same period in FY2010. Revenue increased to $286.3 million from $200 million a year earlier. New rail-car deliveries during the quarter jumped to 2,200 units, up from 800 units in the second quarter of FY2010. The company’s new rail-car manufacturing backlog as of Feb. 28 was 9,500 units with an estimated value of $720 million.

• VTG Aktiengesellschaft has acquired the 300-car vehicle fleet from Italian competitor Sogerent, a transaction company of Sogetank, according to VTG. The transaction is part of VTG’s market expansion plan in Italy. In addition to several freight cars, the acquisition involved rail tank cars used for mineral oils, chemical products and compressed gases. The Sogerent business will be completely integrated into VTG Italy in Milan, according to VTG.

• Westcode Inc. will manufacture and overhaul the air comfort systems for the 120-car Port Authority Transit Corp. (PATCO) fleet recently contracted with Alstom TLS. The air conditioning systems will feature a split system configuration with a microprocessor controller. The HVAC system will be designed and manufactured at Westcode's plant in West Chester, Pa.

• The Vermont Rail System now is using RailComm’s track warrant control system. RailComm’s Domain Operations Control (DOC®) train control system will enable Vermont Rail to remotely dispatch trains wherever an Internet connection is available, according to RailComm.