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• GE Transportation won a $60 million contract from Trenitalia to design, supply and install 400 Sistema di Supporto alla Condotta (SSC) train protection systems onboard diesel locomotives in the Italian state railway’s passenger and cargo fleet. A new generation of automatic train protection systems, SSC is designed to increase the safety and performance of train operations, GE said. The system continuously monitors actual train speed to ensure maximum speed limit compliance and can enforce a train's braking system.

• Siemens Mobility Division obtained a contract from British railway company Network Rail to supply 6,100 GSM-R radio devices. The division also won a GSM-R contract — as a member of a consortium with Nokia Siemens Networks — in the state of Victoria, Australia. Siemens will supply 640 radio units and associated communications equipment.

• RailComm Inc. recently installed an automation system designed to control derails at BNSF Railway Co.’s Amarillo Yard in Texas. RailComm’s Operator Control Panel can provide wireless remote control to several bi-directional derail locations within a yard. BNSF chose Proximity Detection Loops to provide reliable “over the derail” protection and prevent derails from being remotely operated when a locomotive is in a protection zone, RailComm said. The Operator Control Panel features an event recorder function that logs all commands and indication state changes from each derail machine. RailComm’s 2.4 GHz RADiANT™ data radios will provide a wireless communications network to link the control panel with field locations.

• Rail information services provider RMI reached a new five-year agreement with BNSF Railway Co. for the continued use of its OASIS software to obtain operational control of intermodal terminals. RMI also announced that BNSF has successfully implemented the latest release of OASIS for use with wide-span cranes at the BNSF Seattle International Gateway terminal. The Class I has been using OASIS at intermodal terminals since 1996. A decision-support system, OASIS is designed to provide intelligent automation of intermodal terminal operations using sophisticated algorithms for solving logistical problems that arise in in yards, RMI said. BNSF also uses RMI’s OASIS Vantage Business Intelligence interface to obtain real-time visibility of intermodal operations, and RMI’s AutoTrack system to manage automobile transloading facilities.

• SYSTRA USA has appointed John Sutton director of operations analysis. He has more than 30 years of experience in transportation planning, and transportation information and geographic information systems. Sutton most recently was director of transport information systems for MVA consultancy in the United Kingdom. He previously spent 13 years as a transportation consultant in the United States. SYSTRA provides planning, engineering, operations and maintenance, and construction management services to the transportation industry.

• Evans Delivery Co.’s Ray Taylor has been named “Person of the Year” by the Kansas City Transportation Association. The award recognizes a person who significantly impacts the transportation industry. Taylor serves as vice president and general manager of CTW, and intermodal agent for Evans Delivery, which retains agreements with all railroads in Kansas City, Mo., to provide container drayage services at various rail ramps.