Supplier Spotlight (January 2008)

Acquisition action

• TranSystems Corp. acquired Stone Consulting & Design Inc. and Lomarado Group, and merged the firms into a TranSystems Passenger Rail and Transit division.
• Vossloh AG signed a purchase agreement to acquire the assets of switch supplier TKL Rail.

Partnerships

• ATM and Ansaldo STS have formed a new company, INMETRO Srl, which will manage a Copenhagen driverless metro built by Ansaldo STS.
• Alstom Transport and Spanish railway RENFE created joint venture IRVIA Mantenimiento Ferroviario, which will provide train maintenance services.

New offering

• FreightCar America Inc. announced it will expand its rail-car rebody, conversion and refurbishment capabilities by offering program rebody work, major rebody programs and kits for rebodying cars at customers’ shops, freight-car conversions for different service and refurbishments.

Locomotive Contracts

• GE - Transportation obtained an order for 30 freight locomotives from the UK’s Freightliner Group Ltd.
• CAD Railway Industries Ltd. obtained a five-year, $100 million contract to rebuild VIA Rail Canada Inc.’s fleet of F-40 locomotives.

Asset management

• RFTrax announced its Asset Management Platform™ (AMP) for tank cars is helping chemical and petrochemical shippers comply with government regulations regarding Toxic Inhalation Hazard shipments in high-threat urban areas. Also, RFTrax’s AMP for rail-car monitoring applications has been certified by Bourque Data Systems for use with that firm’s RAILTRAC^® system. In addition, RFTrax’s Asset Command Unit received Underwriters Laboratories’ “intrinsically safe” certification for operation in Class 1, 2 and 3, Division 1 hazardous locations.

C&S

• Balfour Beatty Rail Inc. obtained a contract from the Denver Transit Construction Group to provide traction power, overhead electrification, signals and communications systems for the Regional Transportation District of Denver’s West Corridor light-rail project.
• RailComm Inc. commissioned a Track Warrant Control system for Austin, Texas’ Capital Metro, which will use RailComm’s Software-as-a-Service DOC^® system for dispatching in dark territory. And, RailComm commissioned a Track Warrant Control System for Mexico’s Ferrosur, which is using the supplier’s DOC^® platform at its dispatching center.

Component contracts

• Miner Enterprises Inc. delivered 162 car sets of AggreGate^® ballast discharge outlets to FreightCar America Inc. to be applied to ballast cars FreightCar America is building for BNSF Railway Co.
• Knorr-Bremse obtained a contract from Australian rail-car manufacturer Downer EDI Rail to design, manufacture, deliver and maintain braking and door systems for 78 trains.

Tied up

• Koppers Inc. signed a three-year agreement to supply treated wood crossties, and other products and services to Norfolk Southern Railway.

Under repair

• Appalachian Railcar Services Inc. will use ExpressYard’s repair billing and operations management system at its repair shops.

Award

• Miner Enterprises Inc. subsidiary Powerbrace Rail Products Division won the “Planta Segura” award from the Mexican government for promoting a safety culture and preventing accidents and industrial illnesses at its Saltillo, Mexico plant.