Rail supplier news from L.B. Foster, uGRIDD, Argenia Railway Technologies, GE Transportation and Gannett Fleming (Aug. 8)

L.B. Foster's wholly owned subsidiary, Salient Systems Inc., has achieved ISO 9001:2008 Certification in the second quarter. The recognition means that the subsidiary's business practices meet the international standard for operational excellence, said Neal Dow, L.B. Foster's director of quality assurance and plant support in a press release. Salient engineers and manufactures remote infrastructure and vehicle monitoring devices and software for the global rail industry. The Dublin, Ohio-based company joins 13 other locations in L.B. Foster's rail unit that are part of a multisite quality management registration.

uGRIDD Corp. has expanded its cloud infrastructure depository to provide U.S. public and private railroad grade crossing data, including federal accident and inventory reports. Drawing from hundreds of open infrastructure databases, uGRIDD centralizes the data in its depository and makes it available on its website, uGRIDD.com, at no cost to the public. The data is drawn from the Federal Railroad Administration's publicly accessible railroad crossing data.

Hitachi has signed off on Argenia Railway Technology's grade crossing system at the North Pole maintenance depot in the United Kingdom. The technology was installed by CSR Services Ltd. The first of its kind in the U.K., the system uses proprietary digital axle counters to detect trains and activate a warning system. It's the only crossing system in the world with native solar and wireless capabilities designed for depots and areas of low traffic, according to an Argenia press release. The project began in early 2014 and was completed late last year.

GE Transportation's "Movement Planner" software has been implemented at the control center of Australian freight-rail operator Aurizon. The software provides real-time rail traffic planning and optimization, which enables freight to move more efficiently using existing rail networks, according to a joint press release issued by GE and Aurizon. In addition, Movement Planner considers multiple factors — including train schedules, traffic-control systems and train movements — relative to each other and then develops an optimized traffic plan for trains throughout the network. The software will support the efficient flow of freight across more than 1,600 miles of Aurizon's rail network, said GE Transportation Chief Digital Officer Seth Bodnar in the release.

Gannett Fleming has hired Eric Olson as transit and rail business line leader for the West region. During Olson's more than 30 years of experience, he has led the delivery of a number of large transit and rail programs. Most recently, he served as chief project officer for the Exposition Construction Authority, which was responsible for building the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's $2.5 billion Expo Line extension.