Rail supplier news from Loram Technologies, GB Railfreight and Alstom (March 29)

Loram Technologies Inc. announced plans to start construction later this year on an innovation center for research and development (R&D) in Georgetown, Texas. The center would employ 310 people after the expansion, including 150 new positions. Loram expects to invest $17 million in the R&D facility. A Georgetown Economic Development Corp. agreement with the company includes a job-retention and creation grant of $1,000 per job, plus an infrastructure reimbursement for a total incentive of $800,000 for the project. Loram Maintenance of Way Inc. acquired Georgetown-based Georgetown Rail Equipment Co. (GREX) in 2018, and GREX changed its name to Loram Technologies on Jan. 1. "The vision behind Loram Technologies is to build on GREX's successful railroad technology solutions while harmonizing Loram's mergers and acquisitions activity over the last several years," Loram Technologies President Greg Grissom said in a press release. By aligning global software, data and engineering teams, the company will accelerate new product development to bring rail customers next generation technology products and field services, he added.

Electro-Motive Diesel Ltd., an entity of Progress Rail, and GB Railfreight Ltd. (GBRf) have signed a contract extension to the full-service provision arrangements between the businesses, which have been in place since 2012. The new contract extends the size of the GBRf fleet supported by Progress Rail, expands repair capacity at the Doncaster and Peterborough depots and increases the number of field service engineers on the team. The contract supports the GBRf Class 66 locomotive fleet and prepares for the newly re-engineered Class 68 locomotives, the first of which are in trial service at Severn Valley Railway. In addition, Progress Rail will fit the PR Uptime™ digital prognostic equipment to the Class 66 fleet, which serves as the next-generation analytics platform.

Alstom has won a contract to supply Spain's national railway operator Renfe with 152 high-capacity trains for a total of 1.4 billion euros. The trains will come from Alstom's X'Trapolis range of suburban trains. The contract also includes the maintenance of 56 of the trains for 15 years, and the supply of parts for the fleet, as well as the initial stock of spare parts and their tooling. The new trains will enable Renfre to transport at least 20% more passengers per hour.