Rail supplier news from FreightCar America, Seneca Group, Jacobs, and JAGGAER (July 20)

FreightCar America Inc. appointed James Meyer president and chief executive officer, effective July 31. He will succeed Joseph McNeely, who's leaving the company to pursue new opportunities. Meyer has nearly three decades of experience in the heavy equipment, automotive and consumer goods industries, FreightCar America officials said in a press release. He previously served as chairman of Commercial Specialty Truck Holdings LLC. From 2012 to 2015, Meyer was chief operating officer of Allied Specialty Vehicles Inc., a manufacturer of specialty vehicles for the fire and emergency, commercial, and recreational markets. He also held leadership positions at Brunswick Corp.

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency has selected Seneca Group LLC to examine surface transportation modes in Mexico. Seneca Senior Associate Richard Sherman will travel to Mexico to meet with potential sponsors to develop project concepts in grade-crossing safety measures, municipal bus transit information systems, maritime port information technology and cybersecurity, and technologies that analyze and identify causes of road accidents. Seneca also is seeking inquiries from U.S. suppliers of goods and services in those areas. In particular, the company is seeking input from providers of systems, technologies, materials and services related to grade crossings and port security and operations.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has been named lead trackwork design consultant for the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit's Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya (SSP) Line in Malaysia. Jacobs will collaborate with the China Communications and Construction Co. and George Kent joint venture, which was awarded a $234 million contract for the engineering, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning of track work, maintenance vehicles and work trains. The SSP line is expected to cost $7.6 billion to build. The work marks Jacobs' first large-scale rail project in Malaysia, according to a company press release.

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) will deploy JAGGAER's source-to-contract (S2C) suite, which includes the company's Total Supplier Manager, Total Contract Manager and Sourcing Director for eSourcing products. The agency chose the JAGGAER suite to streamline the procurement process, create a simpler onboarding process for suppliers and allow for a less paper-intensive workflow, said TriMet Director of Procurement and Contracts Les Spitler in a press release. In addition, the products will help increase the value of TriMet's procurement department to the agency as a whole and the communities it serves, Spitler said.