Rail supplier news from Wabtec, SCI Rail, Salco, Asite, Alstom, HEPACO and FTS (Feb. 7)

Wabtec Corp. broke ground on a 200,000-square-foot plant that will be used for developing and manufacturing brakes, as well as maintaining brakes and couplers for transit vehicles. Once completed, the plant in Bochum, Germany, will be a DGNB Gold-certified property in recognition of sustainable and innovative design, Wabtec officials said in a press release. Upon completion in third-quarter 2020, the site will have 99,000 square feet of production space, nearly 55,000 square feet of storage and 60,000 square feet of offices. The site also will have a green roof on the administration building; make use of geothermal heating, intelligent light control and photovoltaics; and offer loading stations for e-cars and e-bikes.

SCI Rail Holdings LLC, through its subsidiary A. Stucki Co., acquired Salco Products Inc. Salco supplies circular hatch covers, tank car valves and other components for the freight rail-car industry. The acquisition broadens SCI Rail’s freight car product offering and expands its customer reach with blue chip commodity shippers, SCI Rail officials said in a press release. Dave Oestermeyer will remain president of Salco. Financial terms were undisclosed.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York, selected Asite’s Common Data Environment platform to manage existing and upcoming projects. Asite has customized and implemented its project management platform at MTA to enable sharing, collaboration, communication and data reporting for 300 active projects. The system allows project teams to use the software throughout the workflow of all design and construction activities, Asite officials said in a press release.

Alstom entered into a $109.6 million contract with Verkehrsverbund Mittelsachsen and Zweckverband fur den Nahverkehrsraum Leipzig to manufacture, deliver and maintain 11 Coradia Continental battery-electric trains for the Leipzig-Chemnitz route in Germany. The new trains will enter into service in 2023, Alstom officials said in a press release.

HEPACO LLC has acquired Evergreen AES Environmental Services, a regional provider of remediation, emergency response and environmental services. The combined company will respond to emergencies on a national basis through its managed network of third-party emergency response vendors. "This regional acquisition will immediately expand our ability to service clients across the Mid-Central and Midwest regions,” HEPACO Chief Executive Officer Ken Smith said in a press release. Evergreen AES President Jennifer Lanham will join the HEPACO team as vice president. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Focused Technology Solutions Inc. (FTS) announced that multiple Class Is have ordered its SpikeEase battery operated, hydraulic-free spike puller this year. The "strong" product orders in 2020 followed a successful fourth-quarter 2019, FTS officials said in a press release.