Rail supplier news from FreightCar America, Alstom, Colo Railroad Builders, Hatch Mott MacDonald and SISCOG (July 29)

FreightCar America Inc. has begun production at its new Shoals Facility in Cherokee, Ala. The company subleased 25 percent of the manufacturing plant from Navistar Inc. earlier this year. The plant is designed to build a variety of rail cars.

Alstom, as a member of the FAS consortium, will provide a complete automatic and driverless metro system and equip three of six lines being built in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The contract includes a 10-year option for maintenance services. Financed by the Saudi Arabian government, the total project is worth about $8 billion; Alstom's portion is worth about $1.6 billion.

Colo Railroad Builders has appointed Gary Jones director of mechanical services. Formerly with Union Pacific Railroad for 25 years and more recently with Progress Rail, Jones has managed the maintenance and repair of large fleets of maintenance-of-way equipment. Meanwhile, Colo Railroad Builders officials announced the company's Chicago division has operated without an injury for a full year as of June 4.

Hatch Mott MacDonald announced Doug Hinton has been named executive vice president-strategic initiatives, and Tony Purdon, formerly executive VP-major projects, has been named manager of the Canada West division. Hinton will oversee strategic business development and partnerships. He has helped lead the firm's business development for more than 10 years. Purdon has been part of the Vancouver team, and has helped develop and deliver many key projects, practices and business initiatives across the region, according to a company press release.

Portuguese technology company SISCOG recently marked 20 years of partnership with its oldest international client, the Dutch Railways. In August 1993, SISCOG and Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) signed the first contract for the development of a crew planning system for drivers/engineers and guards/conductors. A developed information technology system went into full production at NS in 1998 and has been in use ever since.