Rail supplier news from Greenbrier, GE, Brookville, NARTC; also, in memoriam: Edward McComb (Aug. 10)

The Greenbrier Cos. Inc. has acquired a majority stake in Turkish rail-car manufacturer Rayvag Vagon Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. Based in Adana, Turkey, Rayvag also provides rail-car repair and parts services. The acquisition will extend Greenbrier's continental reach and enable Greenbrier Europe to acquire new rail-car customers and serve existing ones that operate along the nearly 5,500-mile Turkish rail system. The freight transportation sector in Turkey is "growing quickly," with the country's government committed to modernizing its existing rail system, Greenbrier officials said in a press release. Financial details of the acquisition were undisclosed.

GE Transportation's planning pilot project at the Port of Long Beach, California, is  underway, GE announced Thursday. Over the next two months, the port's stakeholders will use GE's Port Optimizer™ software to access data that will enable them to move cargo containers more efficiently, GE officials said in a press release. The software provides better advanced notice of cargo arrival, along with equipment availability data, labor and other resources. Three of the port's six container terminals are involved: the Long Beach Container, Total Terminals International and the International Transportation Service. The system debuted at the Port of Los Angeles last year.

Brookville Equipment Corp. last week marked its 100th anniversary with a ceremony at its headquarters in Brookville, Pennsylvania. During the event, the company displayed some of its rail equipment, including heritage streetcars bound for San Francisco and El Paso, Texas, along with modern streetcars for Milwaukee and Oklahoma City. Brookville also showcased mining equipment destined for customers in West Virginia and a locomotive for MTA Metro-North Railroad, according to a company press release. The firm was founded as Brookville Truck and Tractor Co. in 1918, when local Ford-dealer L.A. Leathers installed flanged rail wheels on the standard Ford Model-T. Today, the company provides rail-mounted mining equipment, and produces full-scale surface locomotives and streetcars.

The National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel (NARTC) installed David Damico as president. He has more than 30 years of railroad trial experience and has represented Class I, regional and short-line railroads. Damico serves as national trial counsel to multiple railroad companies, NARTC officials said in a press release. The association has more than 900 members in the United States and Canada.

Former Railway Engineering-Maintenance Suppliers Association (REMSA) member Edward McComb died Aug. 4. He was 74. In 1979, he started his rail career at Fairmont Railway Motors, which later merged with Harsco. McComb was active in several industry associations, including REMSA and the Northwest Maintenance Railway Club. In a statement, REMSA officials hailed him as a "legendary figure in the railroad industry."