Rail supplier news from Alstom, CIT, Industry-Railway Suppliers, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Kelso and OPW (May 1)

Alstom has completed the modernization of 106 trains along the London Underground's Northern line. The work involved replacing nearly 7 miles of linoleum in the fleet, polishing 15,688 windows to remove graffiti and changing 27,500 seat backs, Alstom officials said in a press release. In total, the company replaced 3.7 million items on the fleet, or about 35,000 components per train, Alstom said.

CIT reported first-quarter net income of $104 million, up $13 million from the same period last year. Earnings remained flat at 59 cents per diluted share. Net revenue for the quarter was $423.8 million, up $30.9 million from first-quarter 2014. CIT's Chief Executive Officer John Thain said in a press release the results reflected lower profitability in the company's North American commercial finance business, in addition to lower utilization rates in its transportation division.

Scott Commo will succeed Ron Hobbs as president of Industry-Railway Suppliers Inc. Commo has worked various jobs with large contractors, manufacturers and distributors in his more than 15 years in the railroad industry. His background includes roles in management, sales and marketing.

Christopher Papazoglou has been named senior supervising engineer in the New York City office of Parsons Brinckerhoff. In his new role, Papazoglou will have technical and managerial responsibilities on rail design projects in the New York region. He's currently working in support of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's East Side Access project. A member of the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association, Papazoglou worked as a senior railroad engineer at another New York engineering firm, and oversaw projects involving new track alignment, structural design and traction power.

Kelso Technologies hired Brian Emshwiller as regional sales manager. He'll focus on developing a portion of the company's Western U.S. and other strategic accounts, Kelso officials said. Emshwiller has 18 years of industrial valve sales experience working for various manufacturers and distributors throughout the United States.

OPW's Midland Manufacturing earned a National Achievement Award at the 2015 Chlorine Institute Annual Meeting and Technology Symposium. The company received the award for ongoing support of institute's TRANSCAER (Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response) program, which is a voluntary national outreach effort to help communities prepare for potential accidents involving hazardous materials, Midland Manufacturing officials said in a statement.