Rail supplier update from GREX, Wabtec, Siemens, American Intermodal; and in memoriam: Allen Wright (June 18)

Georgetown Rail Equipment Co. (GREX) acquired SENSR Monitoring Technologies from Iowa-based Reference LLC. SENSR develops and sells monitoring equipment to various industries throughout North America and internationally, and has created a Web-based structural health monitoring system for measuring and managing remote structures, GREX officials said in a press release. GREX plans to expand SENSR's products and monitoring systems to including monitoring functions on highway bridges, vertical structures, wind turbines, oil derricks, construction projects and packing crates.

Wabtec Corp. acquired Spanish manufacturer Metalocaucho, which provides a variety of rubber-to-metal components used primarily on high-speed, inner-city and other passenger cars. Its current customers include equipment manufacturers and transit agencies throughout Europe, as well as in China and India. Wabtec did not disclose  financial terms of the acquisition.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) has ordered an additional 40 light-rail cars from Siemens for the Municipal Railway system. SFMTA leveraged an option under its original 175 light-rail order signed in September 2014 to purchase the units. Siemens and the agency hosted an event earlier this week showcasing a model of the new vehicle along San Francisco's Embarcadero.

American Intermodal Container Manufacturing Co. (AICM) entered into a long-term manufacturing agreement with Navistar Inc. to jointly produce high-tensile steel 53-foot domestic shipping containers at the company's Barton Riverfront Industrial Plant in Cherokee, Ala. The agreement will enable AICM to meet the needs of the domestic intermodal container market by producing and delivering a product that "will exceed current industry standards," said the company's Chief Executive Officer Patrick Marron in a statement.

Transit industry leader Allen Wright died June 12 at his home in Stratford, Ontario. He began his 60-year transit career at London Transport, where he completed an apprenticeship to become a mechanical engineer. During his career, he served at the Toronto Transit Commission, Urban Transportation Development Corp., Nippon Sharyo, Bombardier Transportation and other entities. He also ran his own sales and marketing business known as the Wright Connection. For the past two years, he was president of Woojin IS America Inc., a Korean company with an office in Los Angeles. Wright is survived by his wife, Sylvia; children and grandchildren.