Rail supplier news from AECOM, Kinkisharyo, Alstom, UNITRAC, Keolis; and, in memoriam: Anthony Kruglinski

AECOM Technology Corp. announced that GrandLinq, a public-private partnership in which it participates, has obtained a contract with the region of Waterloo, Ontario, to design, build, finance, operate and maintain a new at-grade light-rail system between the cities of Waterloo and Kitchener. The contract is expected to be worth $23 million to AECOM, according to a company press release.

Kinkisharyo announced this week that it will construct a manufacturing plant in Palmdale, Calif. The city plans to sell 60 acres on the corner of Sierra Highway and Avenue M for $1.3 million to Kinkisharyo, and bring utilities and infrastructure to the property. The target completion date is May 2015. The $60 million, 460,000-square-foot plant will create hundreds of construction jobs and, when completed, will provide between 150 to 200 "high-paying" jobs, according to Kinkisharyo.

Alstom Transport plans to introduce three innovations at InnoTrans in Berlin Sept. 23-26: the latest version of its Citadis tram; a predictive maintenance tool developed to reduce lifecycle costs; and new versions of the Atlas range, its ERTMS solution. The products are scalable, adapting to various traffic requirements, and can be used in low- or high-density networks to provide a better response to all customer requirements, Alstom officials said in a press release.

UNITRAC Railroad Materials Inc. marked its 25th anniversary this month. Since the company's founding in 1989, UNITRAC has offered various railroad products, special trackwork and railroad services to customers nationwide. When founded, the company had 10 employees and supplied special trackwork products to rail brokers in the Northeast and Southeast regions. Now, UNITRAC has grown to employ more than 145 sales, engineering, manufacturing, logistics, technical and field operations personnel to help manage a vast network of nationwide rail customers. UNITRAC is also one of the nation's largest suppliers of relay rail products and solutions and is offering new advancements in the manufactured trackwork market, company officials said in a press release.

Keolis North America has named Susan Herlick general counsel to direct the company's legal, compliance and regulatory affairs for the North American operations. She joins Keolis from Orbital Sciences Corp., where she served as general counsel and corporate secretary. Earlier in her career, she was a lawyer in the Washington, D.C., offices of Hogan Lovelis.

 Anthony "Tony" Kruglinski, founder and president of Railroad Financial Corp. and longtime financial editor of Railway Age magazine, died June 15 at his home in West Orange, N.J., of pancreatic cancer, according to an obituary posted on the magazine's website. Kruglinski was 66. He began his railroad career as a brakeman at Penn Central. After managing the Surface Transportation Division of Irving Trust Co. in New York City, Kruglinski founded Railroad Financial in Chicago. He became the magazine's financial editor in 1989. He is survived by his wife, Doreen; three children and a granddaughter.