Rail supplier news from GE, LAN, Railhead, HNTB and Kontron (Oct. 10)

GE Transportation Chief Executive Officer Jamie Miller has been appointed chief financial officer of GE, effective Nov. 1. She'll replace Jeffrey Bornstein, who will leave GE on Dec. 31 after 28 years of service. In October 2015, Miller became president and CEO of GE Transportation. She's credited with helping lead GE Transportation's "Brilliant Factory" initiative, the business's digital transformation effort. Miller also helped open global markets around the world, GE officials said in a press release. She joined GE in 2008 as vice president, controller and chief accounting officer. Pascal Schweitzer, GE Transportation's global services leader, will serve as acting CEO. A permanent CEO will be named in the coming weeks, company officials said.

The Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) has chosen Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc. (LAN) to provide railroad engineering services for rail projects over the next three years. DCTA operates the 21-mile A-train commuter-rail line, which connects with Dallas Area Rapid Transit's Green Line in Carrollton, Texas. LAN will handle projects aimed at improving the existing transit network, such as A-train expansions to the Cotton Belt and North Denton regions. LAN's services will include rail system guideway design, signal system design, rail bridge engineering and inspection, station design, schedule modeling and emergency railroad engineering. The firm also will evaluate future rail expansions to other corridors.

Railhead Corp. has signed a three-year supply contract with Railmarketplace Inc. Under the agreement, Railhead will supply Class Is with more than 50 of its product SKUs, including locomotive LEDs, LED safety warning lights, gloves and other equipment. Railmarketplace is an e-commerce exchange established by BNSF Railway Co., CN, Canadian Pacific, CSX, Norfolk Southern Railway and Union Pacific Railroad. Financial details of the contract were not disclosed in a Railhead press release.

HNTB Corp. has named Mark Clendennen rail operations planning manager. Based in Denver, he'll work with U.S. clients, company officials said in a press release. Clendennen has more than 12 years of experience in the rail industry and has focused on commuter- and freight-rail projects. Before joining HNTB, he served as project manager for a railroad contractor in Denver, where he planned comprehensive maintenance programs to promote safety. Prior to that, Clendennen served as project manager-rail systems and project management at the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Austin, Texas. In that role, he led the agency's positive train control (PTC) program. Meanwhile, HNTB appointed Jason Orme senior project manager for the firm's national rail systems team. He'll provide technical oversight, with a focus on wayside equipment and interfaces for PTC systems. Orme has nearly 20 years of experience in electronics engineering and intelligent control systems. Before joining HNTB, he contributed to the development of GE Transportation's Intelligent Control Systems' validation and systems engineering processes and procedures.

Kontron's TRACe™ transportation computing products have been chosen by Centum Adetel Transportation Solution for its complete passenger-rail information system. Centum Adetel selected Kontron's TRACe products based on their in-field performance and open architecture that can be adapted for rail operations' requirements, Kontron officials said in a press release. Kontron's TRACe products make way for enhanced information, entertainment and security features. The products have been deployed recently on the next generation of high-speed trains in the Northeast Corridor and on a new suburban train project in California. Centum Adetel is a system integrator of advanced embedded transportation systems.