Rail supplier news from Alstom, GCT, Quandel Consultants and Kontron (July 24)

Alstom has inaugurated its first locomotive repair center in Astana, Kazakhstan. At the more than 28,000-square-foot facility, the company will perform overhauls of the Prima T8 and Prima M4 locomotives over the next 25 years. The facility includes a repair and testing shop, warehouse, spare parts shop and office space. The center also will be able to maintain products built by other companies, such as pantographs, transformers and braking systems. The Kazakh rail network spans about 8,700 miles and represents a "substantial market for maintenance activities," Alstom officials said in a press release. 

GCT Global Container Terminals Inc. has appointed Doron Grosman president and chief executive officer. He will be responsible for the company's operations in both Canada and the United States. Grosman succeeds Stephen Edwards, who held the position since 2012. Most recently, Grosman was an operating partner at Court Square Capital Partners. Before that, he was president for Hexcel Corp., a company specializing in advanced composites technology. Grosman also spent 11 years in various senior executive roles at GE and GE Plastics.

Quandel Consultants LLC has added three veteran engineers to its team: James Push, James LeVan and Dean Smith. Push, who was named chief transportation engineer, previously served as AECOM's senior project manager of infrastructure for 25 years. LeVan has more than 27 years of civil engineering experience and worked as a project manager at AECOM and its legacy company URS. Meanwhile, Smith is a senior bridge engineer and bridge inspection team leader with more than 16 years of experience.

Kontron has become a member of the "LoRa Alliance™," which is developing a global low-power wide area network (LPWAN) standard for the Internet of Things. Formed in 2015, the alliance has more than 500 members that collaborate to guarantee interoperability between operators and private networks. Intelligent transportation is one emerging application where LoRa's LPWAN could offer "significant benefits," said LoRa Alliance Chairman Geoff Mulligan in a press release.