Rail supplier news from VLS, Trinity and Nordic (Sept. 9)

VLS Environmental Solutions announced it has acquired Safety Railway Service (SRS), a full-service rail car repair and fabrication business based in Victoria, Texas. The acquisition is part of VLS achieving its sustainability goals, as well as parent company I Squared Capital expanding its portfolio, VLS officials said in a press release. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. SRS will operate within the VLS Railcar Cleaning and Repair Services division.

Trinity Industries Inc. has elected Robert Biesterfield Jr. and Veena Lakkundi to its board of directors, effective immediately. Biesterfield has been president and CEO of C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc., a global logistics company, since 2019. Lakkundi has served as senior vice president, corporate strategy and development of Rockwell Automation Inc. since 2021.

Nordic Unmanned announced an agreement with BNSF Railway Co. to test the Staaker Railway Drone for infrastructure inspection and general data acquisition. The project calls for the merging of the current railway technology with the drone, which is a flexible data acquisition platform, Nordic officials said. The first phase of the contract will serve to further develop the drone and its use cases. BNSF is Nordic Unmanned's first U.S. rail customer.