Rail supplier news from LTK, Railinc, Alstom and Michigan State (Dec. 20)

LTK Engineering Services announced several promotions: Pam Alexander to vice president of the Atlanta region; Lisa Cobb to VP of the Northern California region; Guy Chertock to VP of rail systems engineering; and Natalie Cornell to VP of business development. Previously, Alexander was the Atlanta office lead and a project consultant focusing on rail vehicle program support. Cobb has nearly 30 years of experience in the rail industry and previously served as the San Francisco Bay Area regional manager. Chertock has more than 20 years of experience in the radio and communications fields. Cornell has project management experience in rail vehicle engineering and procurement, and fare collections sales and delivery, LTK officials said in a press release.

Food Logistics magazine named Railinc a leading software and technology provider to the food and beverage industry. Railinc technology initiatives support railroad efforts to provide detailed rail car visibility to shippers. This makes supply chains more efficient with multimodal optimization, early detection of equipment issues and remediation for shipment exceptions, Railinc officials said in a press release.

Alstom signed a five-year, $77.6 million rolling stock maintenance contract with BDZ Passenger Services, the Bulgarian national railway company. The contract covers full maintenance for 126 rail cars, as well as overhauls of 46 non-Alstom trains. Meanwhile, Alstom announced that Transport for South Wales began revenue service on the CBD and South East light-rail project in Sydney, Australia. Alstom is part of the ALTRAC light-rail consortium responsible for design, delivery and commissioning of 60 Citadis X05 light-rail vehicles, signaling, communications and maintenance for the line. Alstom also announced that the 15 Citadis Dualis trains it delivered to Ile-de-France Mobilites and SNCF Transilien in France have entered into commercial service, Alstom officials said in a press release.

Research from Michigan State University’s Center for Railway Research and Education (CRRE) contributed to San Bernardino County Transportation Authority’s (SBCTA) decision to order the first commercial hydrogen-powered train for use in North America from Stadler U.S. Inc., CRRE officials said in a press release. The research was completed for SBCTA, which was seeking low- or zero-emission options for its future Arrow railway service in San Bernardino County, California. The work was conducted in partnership with the Birmingham Center for Railway Research and Education and Mott MacDonald, and fully funded through a grant from the California State Transportation Agency.