Rail supplier news from TUV Rheinland, PCL Construction, Protran, AECOM, Cubic and CMA (June 27)

Gary Wolf, president of TUV Rheinland Mobility Inc., doing business as TUV Rheinland Rail Sciences Inc. (RSI), recently retired after a 40-year career in rail consulting and engineering. He remains a senior consultant to TUV Rheinland Mobility's board, according to a press release. Wolf served as RSI's chief executive officer and president since 1987, when he founded it as an independent railway consulting firm in Atlanta. TUV Rheinland acquired RSI in 2010. Prior to founding RSI, Wolf served in various roles at Norfolk Southern Corp. In addition, TUV Rheinland recently consolidated its mobility divisions into one business unit, uniting RSI, Rail Safety Consulting, Automotive Engineering and Intelligent Transportation Systems into TUV Rheinland Mobility. Sebastian Oertel, director of mobility at TUV Rheinland, has been named chief operating officer of the new business unit.

The Twin Cities' Metropolitan Council earlier this week awarded a $1.8 million contract to PCL Construction Services to build a stairway-elevator tower to connect the skyway spanning downtown St. Paul's Central Station to the sidewalk below. Construction will begin by fall so the project can be completed in time for the opening of Central Corridor light-rail line (Green Line) in mid-2014. Funding will come from an $800,000 federal grant received by Metro Transit and $969,620 from the Central Corridor project budget.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) recently received the first delivery of a pedestrian warning system manufactured by Protran Technology. The system communicates with the existing light-rail vehicle mounted advance warning Protracker system, which LACMTA implemented five years ago, according to a LACMTA press release. The agency is implementing a pedestrian and trespass advance warning system, which is designed to warn pedestrians that a train is approaching while simultaneously alerting the train operator that trespassers are on the right of way.

AECOM has appointed Charles Stark as the transit and rail market segment leader for southern California. In his new role, Stark will collaborate with AECOM's region business line leaders and region market sector managers to increase business in southern California. With more than 35 years of industry experience, Stark has managed the design of new urban transit extensions, including lines in downtown Los Angeles, New York City and other cities. During his 11 years with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, he served as executive officer for engineering and construction, and deputy executive director for project management.

The Ventra™ open standards fare system (OSFS) soon will debut at the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and its bus operator, Pace, according to Cubic Transportation Systems. Cubic is CTA's and Pace's systems integrator, and the services provider for Ventra. Cubic is leading a team to provide services to the agencies through Jan. 15, 2024. The new Ventra card features two accounts: a closed-loop account for transit payments and an optional reloadable prepared that can be used for daily purchases where the MasterCard® debit card is accepted.

The Coordinated Mechanical Associations (CMA) have announced the agendas for their 2013 technical conference to be held in Indianapolis in conjunction with Railway Interchange 2013, which will run from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2. The associations involved are the Air Brake Association, International Association of Railroad Operating Officers, Locomotive Maintenance Officers Association, Mechanical Association Railcar Technical Services and the League of Railway Industry Women.