Rail supplier news from Bombardier, Wabtec, Siemens, Ansaldo, Veolia, HNTB and J.L. Patterson (Feb. 19)

Bombardier Transportation announced today that it has signed a $2.1 billion contract with Transport for London to provide new trains, a depot and maintenance services for London’s Crossrail project. Bombardier will deliver 65 nine-car trains and construct a new depot at Old Oak Common. The deal also includes maintenance provisions for the train fleet.

Wabtec Corp. reported record results for 2013, including in the fourth quarter, when earnings per diluted share totaled 76 cents, 13 percent higher than the year-ago quarter. The fourth quarter was impacted by after-tax expenses of 3 cents per diluted share, or $3.8 million pre-tax, primarily for restructuring actions. Sales for the quarter rose 12 percent to a record $682 million, driven by higher sales in the Freight and Transit groups. Income from operations reached $111 million compared with $100 million in the year-ago quarter. For the full year, Wabtec posted sales of $2.57 billion, income from operations of $437 million and earnings per diluted share of $3.01, all records. The company also generated cash flow from operations of $236 million.

Andreas Busemann, head of production at DB Bahn Long Distance, and Jürgen Wilder, chief executive officer of Siemens AG's High Speed and Commuter Rail Business Unit, presented the new ICE 3 of Deutsche Bahn (DB) this week on a press tour. In December 2013, the new ICE 3 was approved for double-unit operation within Germany. By the end of December, four ICE trains were delivered to DB. Four additional trains are to follow by the end of March. The first new ICE 3s are primarily running on the Cologne-Frankfurt (Main)-Stuttgart line in place of the previous ICE 3. Beginning in mid April, the eight delivered trains will be integrated into the current timetable.

Ansaldo STS recently opened the Ankara Metro's M3 Line in Turkey. The nine-mile line has 11 stations and is part of the first three sets of the Ankara Metro communications-based train control (CBTC) project. The project also includes renovation of the existing M1 line and construction of lines M2 and M4, for a total length of 34 miles and 44 stations. Overall, 144 trains will be equipped with CBTC systems.

Veolia Transportation has named Richard Palmieri vice president of business development for rail. He will also serve on the company's Rail Management Committee. Prior to his new role, Palmieri served as director of business development at Siemens Infrastructure & Cities. He also held various roles at JHK & Associates, Parsons Brinckerhoff Tudor-Turner, TransCore Consulting, BellSouth and Siemens VDO.

Patrick Watz has joined HNTB Corp. as rail transit practice leader and vice president. Watz has more than 21 years of transportation industry experience, including planning, program management, design, construction management, and project controls services for highways, bridges, transit-rail systems and facilities. He is based in the firm’s Minneapolis office.

J.L. Patterson & Associates Inc.'s Kyle Patterson has received the Orange County Engineering Council's Young Engineer Award. The award recognizes qualified up-and-coming engineers in a broad range of categories and honors the accomplishments, quality and diversity of engineering and related scientific communities in Southern California. Patterson has eight years of track design experience, including the design of projects for Class Is, commuter railroads and light-rail systems.