Supplier Spotlight (January 2007)

• Wabtec Corp. acquired Becorit GmbH, which manufactures technology-based friction products for the European rail industry, for about $50 million cash.
• Japan’s Marubeni Corp. and its U.S. affiliate, Marubeni America Corp., acquired freight-car leasing and asset management firm Midwest Railcar Corp. (MRC). MRC’s existing management team will “continue to lead the company and manage the firm’s growth,” according to a prepared statement.
• Bombardier Transportation acquired Transportation and Transit Associates L.L.C.’s passenger-car overhaul business.
• Global Railway Industries Ltd. subsidiary G & B Specialties Inc. acquired ESSCO’s rail-gear product line.

Transit contracts

• ALSTOM Transport obtained a $319.2 million contract to supply 49 CORADIA LIREX regional trains to Sweden’s Skanetrafiken.
• Bombardier Transportation obtained a $605 million contract to supply 112 high-capacity trains for the French National Railways.
• TieTek won a contract to supply 7,000 composite ties to the Chicago Transit Authority.

Components

• The Timken Co. is supplying an integrated system of bearings and housings to Vossloh Locomotives for the motive power provider’s new EURO 4000.
• New facilities
• TieTek opened a new 50,000-square-foot production plant in Houston, enabling the company to increase composite crosstie production by 50 percent, according to the supplier.
• TPI Composites Inc. opened a new facility in Springfield, Ohio, that will produce a newly designed lightweight platform deck to be used on Gunderson Auto-Max freight cars.

C&S

• RailComm Inc. obtained a contract to provide 17 remote control switches for Union Pacific Railroad’s Roper Yard near Salt Lake City; and a contract from Formosa Plastics to provide a wireless yard automation system for the company’s Marshall Yard II facility in Point Comfort, Texas.

Technology upgrades

• Cubic Transportation Systems Inc. obtained an $11.6 million contract from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to upgrade its fare-collection system.
• Telvent GIT S.A. obtained several contracts totaling $32 million from Mexico City Metro to upgrade electrical infrastructure control systems and implement technology for a contact-free ticketing system.

New product

• Polystrand Inc. and Miles Fiberglass & Composites jointly developed corrugated panels for refrigerated rail cars that are designed to reduce maintenance and repair costs, according to the companies.