Supplier Spotlight (May 2007)

• A. Stucki Co. has completed a management-led buyout of the railroad product operations of A. Stucki parent firm Hansen Inc. The purchase includes A. Stucki, its Independent Draft Gear and American Industries divisions, and international subsidiaries Stucki do Brazil, Stucki de Mexico and A. Stucki (Ukraine) Rail.

Bought & Sold

• Signal and transmission solutions supplier Belden acquired automation technology supplier Hirschmann Automation and Control GmbH for about $260 million. ... Portec Rail Products Inc. sold its Wrexham, Wales, United Kingdom facility to GHA Coaches for $2 million. ... Tangent Rail Corp. sold its rail grinding division to Loram Maintenance of Way Inc.
• Vossloh AG acquired Cleveland Track Material Inc.

Commuter-rail contracts

• Sumitomo Corp. of America and partner Nippon Sharyo Ltd. obtained a contract to supply 14 gallery-type electric multiple unit commuter-rail cars for the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District.
• Bombardier Transportation obtained an $84 million, seven-year contract to provide maintenance services for the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority’s commuter-rail fleet.

Technology

• 10East Corp. will provide its RailDOCS™ Mobile Business Platform and RailDOCS Preventive Maintenance Management systems for a pilot for Norfolk Southern Railway, which will use the systems to help manage and document compliance with Federal Railroad Administration requirements.
• ALK Technologies obtained contracts from BNSF Railway Co., Canadian National Railway Co., CSX Transportation and Union Pacific Railroad to supply its PC*MILER/Rail routing, mileage and mapping software.

Powering up

• EnerSys has added the new SBS170F thin-plate pure lead valve-regulated lead acid battery to its PowerSafe SBS line.

International news

• A consortium comprising Mitsui & Co. Ltd., Barclay Mowlem Ltd. and Al Rashid obtained a $765 million civil and track works contract from the Ministry of Finance of Saudi Arabia for the North South Railway.
• The Timken Co. was named sole supplier of tapered roller bearings for final drives Voith Turbo GmbH & Co. KG is manufacturing for Siemens Transportation Systems’ Velaro E high-speed trains.
• Bombardier Transportation obtained a $416 million contract to supply an additional 67 high-capacity trains for the French National Railways ... Alstom Transport and Bombardier Transportation obtained a $187 million contract to supply 16 double-deck Coradia Duplex trainsets for the French National Railway.
• GE - Transportation is delivering four remanufactured GE C24 MMI locomotives to Jordan’s Aqaba Railway Corp.
• Knorr-Bremse AG and ZAO Transmashholding will create a Russian joint venture to manufacture, sell and service rail vehicle braking systems.

Car Systems

• Global Railway Industries Ltd.’s Bach-Simpson Corp. subsidiary obtained three contracts totaling $5.5 million to provide event recorders for new passenger-rail cars being manufactured for transit agencies in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles.

New digs

• CIT Group Inc. opened a new Chicago office in the Mercantile Exchange building at 30 South Wacker Drive, enabling the firm to consolidate more than 120 Chicago-based employees from CIT’s financing and advisory businesses, and relocate its New York City operations to Chicago.
• Hulcher Services Inc. has opened a new service division in Buffalo, N.Y.

Marking a milestone

• Eastern Signal Engineers recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. A group of voluntary signal officers from railroads and transit agencies east of the Mississippi, the organization was formed by a group of signal officers in the New York City metropolitan area.