Rail supplier news from Cubic, Alstom, Wasatch, BBVA, Splunk, RSI, REMSA and Parsons Brinckerhoff (April 24)

Cubic Transportation Systems obtained a $7.5 million add-on contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to expand the Clipper® card fare payment system to more than a dozen suburban transit agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area. The system, which Cubic delivered and operates, will enhance travel options for commuters in parts of the East and North Bay.

An Alstom-led consortium has obtained a contract worth $565.7 million from the Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF) to supply its ERTMS Level 2 signaling system and the maintenance for a period of 20 years for Spain's new north-west high-speed line. Alstom's share is worth $303.5 million.

Wasatch Railroad Contractors has entered into an operational/consultant agreement with McCreary County Heritage Foundation, the owners and operators of the Kentucky & Tennessee Railroad and the Big South Fork Scenic Railway in Stearns, Ky. The foundation also operates the McCreary County Museum, the Stearns Historic District and the Stearns Heritage Golf Course. Wasatch has been leasing shop space from the foundation for the past two years. The new agreement has an initial term of five years with the possibility for five five-year extensions.

BBVA Compass can now help clients move goods across the country with its new Transportation Banking group, which will provide loans, revolving credit, equipment and acquisition financing and other financial products and services to trucking, rail, shipping, logistics and air-related businesses. BBVA Compass Transportation Banking is led by Nick Weaver, who has more than 20 years of experience in the specialized industry, most recently with Regions Bank.

Splunk Inc., which provides a software platform for real-time operational intelligence, announced that New York Air Brake (NYAB) is using Splunk® Enterprise to index, monitor, analyze and visualize sensor data from more than 5,000 locomotives. Splunk software is being used for LEADER®, NYAB’s advanced train control system that alerts engineers about ideal driving conditions and defines better locomotive operating strategies to save money.

Exhibit sales are now open for the USA Pavilion at the Business on Rails (NT Expo) trade show to be held Nov. 11-13 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The show is co-hosted by the Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association (REMSA) and The Railway Supply Institute (RSI), which have increased the size of the USA Pavilion for 2014 from 10 to 16 exhibiting companies due to the success of last year's event.

Parsons Brinckerhoff announced three personnel moves: Tad Widby, a senior vice president with 23 years of experience at the firm, has been named deputy regional business manager for the U.S. West region; Walter Zyznieuski, who recently joined the firm after serving the Illinois Department of Transportation for the past 20 years, has been named a senior planning manager in the Chicago office; and Ronald Birkelbach, who has more than 25 years of experience in rail industry engineering, has been named a vice president in charge of the company's systems group in the Northeast region, which provides engineering services for rail and transit projects.