Rail supplier news from Koppers, Alstom, Waterfall Security, Nascent and Buckeye (Sept. 13)

Koppers has hired John McDonald as director of Class I sales in the railroad products and services segment. He will manage Koppers' expanded rail product portfolio and all aspects of Class I customer relationships. McDonald will also work closely with the company's carbon materials and chemicals and recovery resources segments.

Alstom expanded its manufacturing capabilities in South Africa through the acquisition of assets for the manufacturing of car body shells from TMH Africa. Alstom sourced car body shells for its electric TRAXX locomotive project with Transnet before the company filed for business rescue. Alstom welcomed all 105 employees. The local manufacturing of car body shells represents a milestone as Alstom expands its geographic footprint in southern Africa, according to an Alstom press release.

Waterfall Security Solutions announced a collaboration agreement to secure safety-critical and reliability-critical operations networks for railways and public transport with Alstom. The partnership is in line with the rail industry's own acknowledgment that cyber threats must be made a priority, according to a Waterfall Security press release.

Nascent Technology and Buckeye Mountain Inc. have released a new joint product designed to optimize inland container depots, warehouses, distribution centers and rail yards. The new Buckeye Mountain RapidDeploy power and communications device has been deployed at hundreds of container facilities in North America. The new offering enables facility operators to transition from manually operated entry and exit checkpoints to automated, secure and environmentally friendly gate operations, the companies said in a joint press release.