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• Wabtec Corp. has acquired signal engineering and design services firm Xorail L.L.C. for $40 million in cash. Founded in 1990 as Southwest Signal Engineering Co., Xorail has 10 satellite offices in North America and employs about 275. The company provides engineering, design and construction services to Class Is and transit agencies for railway signaling systems, including wayside signaling, positive train control systems and grade crossing warning systems. Xorail’s engineering and wayside capabilities are a “good fit” with Wabtec’s railway electronics business and will “position Wabtec for a larger role” as the rail industry implements PTC the next several years,” said Wabtec President and Chief Executive Officer Albert Neupaver in a prepared statement.

• Nomad Digital recently signed a $2.1 million contract with Swiss train manufacturer Stadler to equip 50 new FLIRT trains with its high-speed broadband communications system for NSB, Norway’s national passenger-rail system. NSB will use Nomad’s system to monitor energy usage; Stadler will use it to monitor “on-train” systems to support ongoing maintenance, according to a prepared statement.

• Siemens Mobility last week received a $64.7 million order from Israel Railways Corp. Ltd. for 31 Viaggio Light passenger coaches. The low-floor Viaggio Light cars will be manufactured at Siemens Vienna plant; deliveries will begin in 2011.

• Colo Railroad Builders recently opened three new offices in Wichita, Kan., and Lubbock and Brownsville, Texas. “We are responding to demand from large industrial and short-line customers,” said General Manager Terry Benton in a prepared statement. Colo provides railroad construction and maintenance services.

• Stantec Inc. has named Sean Robitaille to lead the firm’s operations initiatives. He has more than 15 years of Class I operations experience in the areas of simulations, capacity evaluations, train scheduling, train performance analysis and signals design. Robitaille will be based in the firm’s Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, headquarters.

• ARINC Engineering Services L.L.C. has appointed Bradley Little senior director of international development. He most recently served as chief of staff and deputy chief of staff with the U.S. Department of State in Afghanistan and Iraq, helping direct U.S. reconstruction efforts from 2005 to 2009. He became a consultant to ARINC in December 2009.

• Parsons Brinckerhoff is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. William Barclay Parsons established the consulting engineering practice in lower Manhattan in 1885. Today, the firm serves as a strategic consulting, planning, engineering and program/construction management organization with about 14,000 employees in 150 offices on six continents.