Rail supplier news from Transdev, Duos, Bombardier, HUBER+SUHNER, Ardenna and Cubic (Sept. 2)

Transdev announced the retirement of President-Emeritus Michael Setzer after a nearly 50-year career in the transit industry. He previously served in chief executive roles at many U.S. transit systems, including those in Cincinnati and St. Louis. Setzer was general manager of Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Metro Transit during the construction and commissioning of its first light-rail line and chief executive officer of Long Island’s Nassau Inter-County Express. He founded Professional Transit Management, which now is part of Transdev, a global transport services provider.

Duos Technologies Group Inc. appointed Charles Ferry chief executive officer to succeed company founder and Chairman Gianni Arcaini, who recently retired and will continue to serve on Duos’ board. Ferry has extensive private-sector leadership experience in the energy and defense contracting industries, and served in the U.S. Army for 26 years, Duos officials said in a press release. He most recently was CEO of APR Energy. Earlier in his career, Ferry was general manager or ARMA Global Corp., a defense contracting firm owned by General Dynamics.

New Jersey Transit has exercised an option to purchase eight additional ALP-45 dual-power locomotives from Bombardier Transportation. The transit agency’s fourth order for the locomotives from a 2008 contract will boost its ALP fleet to 60. The locomotives meet federal Tier 4 requirements, reducing emissions in diesel mode and producing no emissions in electric mode. The units offer a significant increase in horsepower, acceleration and available head-end power compared with the locomotives they will replace, Bombardier officials said in a press release.

Stadler has selected HUBER+SUHNER as a preferred supplier of its railway cables. The companies — which have collaborated for more than 20 years — agreed on a pact that runs until 2023. HUBER+SUHNER will supply an important part of Stadler’s global cable demand as part of a new global price agreement. Under the pact, HUBER+SUHNER will provide Stadler with RADOX railway cables for power, control and communication connectivity across all its vehicle platforms, including electric commuter trains, electric high-speed trains, and metro, light-rail and customized vehicles.

Ardenna has unveiled Rail-Inspector, a cloud-based software designed to accurately process and analyze imagery captured during drone surveys. It can identify and measure railway features, classify anomalies, determine the health of railway features and issue reports on areas of concern, Ardenna officials said in a press release. Some track features the software can identify include ties and their condition, joint bars, fasteners, frogs and switches. Among the track features to be measured are rail gauge and gaps, tie spacing and angle, and the percent of ballast covering ties.

Cubic Transportation Systems has helped the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) enable SmarTrip on iPhones and Apple Watches so passengers gain a contactless way to pay for train and bus rides in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. In addition, Cubic and WMATA launched the SmarTrip app, their first mobile application for the region. SmarTrip on iPhones and Apple Watches provides an instant view of balances and stored card value, eliminating physical contact and the need to stand in line at ticket vending machines, Cubic officials said in a press release. The touch-free fare cards can be reloaded through Apple Wallet.