Rail supplier news from RSI, Stadler, Rail Vision, Wabtec, Transit Wireless and Fabasoft (Dec. 18)

The Railway Supply Institute (RSI) submitted comments to the Centers for Disease Control and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices urging the committee to consider railway suppliers in the Phase 1B distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. "The availability of a vaccine for these [rail] workers would significantly enhance this industry’s ability to perform its duty to maintain the essential rail supply chain and provide services to support critical rail operations while also ensuring the health, safety and well-being of our workers and the residents of the communities in which we live and work," said RSI Vice President of Government and Public Affairs Nicole Brewin in a statement. “Throughout the pandemic, railway supply workers across the country have provided essential services to support our passenger and freight railroads as they deliver people, food, fuel, medicine and other supplies that have sustained our nation’s pandemic response and economic recovery." Many of the 125,000 rail workers have been identified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as part of the essential workforce during the pandemic, Brewin said.

Portren SA and Cointer Concesiones commissioned Stadler Rail to supply and deliver seven EURO4001 diesel-electric locomotives to Uruguay. Deliveries are expected to start by 2022's end, Stadler officials said in a press release. The locomotives will travel between a new pulp mill at Paso de los Toros to the the Port of Montevideo. Each convoy will consist of one locomotive and 26 cars carrying wood pulp. On the way back, the locomotives will transport chemicals and fuel required to produce cellulose. The locomotives will be designed and manufactured at Stadler’s plant in Valencia, Spain. 

Rail Vision Ltd. received a $489,500 order from Knorr-Bremse Systeme fur Schienenfahrzeuge GmbH in Germany for two samples of Rail Vision’s light-rail vehicle system. The system provides obstacle detection, classification and alerts, Rail Vision officials said in a press release.

Wabtec Corp. appointed Lee Banks to its board. Banks is president and chief operating officer at Parker Hannifin Corp., a manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems. Throughout his 30-year career, he has held leadership positions in sales and operations management. Banks also serves on Parker Hannifin’s board.

Transit Wireless named Jyoti Mahurkar-Thombre chief technology officer. She will lead the technology strategy for engineering, network operations, research and development, and product development, Transit Wireless officials said in a press release. Previously, she was CTO of Landis+Gyr and vice president of wireless research and development at Nokia.

Officials from VIA Rail and Siemens Mobility this year have been using Fabasoft Approve as a central information hub for project correspondence and for coordinating, managing, reviewing and approving technical information as part of VIA Rail’s order for push-pull trains from Siemens in 2018. In addition to delivering the trains, a broad scope of contractual obligations and documentation requirements need to be satisfied. The Fabasoft solution offered a cloud-based product that would facilitate reliable and traceable exchange for those technical data and documents, Fabasoft officials said in press release.