Rail supplier news from Koppers, Thales, RailComm and Parsons Brinckerhoff (Jan. 24)

Koppers Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Koppers Holdings Inc., completed the purchase of Tolko Industries Ltd.'s crosstie treating business and related manufacturing facility in Ashcroft, British Columbia, Canada. The purchase price: $32.4 million (in Canadian dollars), subject to post-closing adjustments.

Thales and the Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a rail academy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The rail academy will be dedicated to "the creation and deployment of high-level professional and academic training [programs] to support the UAE’s mainline rail and urban transport developments," according to a press release.

RailComm supplied a Blue Flag Indicator (BFI) System to a "major" North American rail yard in Fort Worth, Texas, according to the company. The BFI System is designed to enable a user to apply blue flag protection to the trim yard and control 14 derails on seven tracks.

Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) named Ashok Kothari global projects director. A senior vice president at PB, also will continue to serve as the firm's project director for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Westside Subway Extension, a nine-mile extension of the Purple Line subway from downtown Los Angeles to Westwood. PB is performing advanced preliminary engineering and engineering management services for the project.