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• Swedish researchers working on the “Green Train” project during the past four years have found that new generation trains running on existing track can combine higher speed, lower energy consumption, reduced noise and lower costs, according to Bombardier Transportation, which was a partner in the research project. The Green Train is an electric tilting train based on the Bombardier Regina vehicle that is designed to maintain higher speeds than convention strains on sections with curves and provide high speeds on dedicated high-speed lines, Bombardier officials said in a prepared statement. In its report, the project team noted that the concept train set a Swedish speed record of 188 mph.

• Invensys Rail’s joint venture with Turkish civil engineering company Fermak has obtained a $99.6 million project from Turkish State Railways (TCDD) to install advanced European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) signaling and communications on the main rail link between the Marmaray and Mediterranean seas. Invensys Rail’s share of the contract, worth $77 million, calls for the company to design, supply, install, test and commission its FUTUR ERTMS systems both onboard trains and at the wayside, according to a press release.

• Banyan Rail Services Inc. has named Jon Ryan president of its wholly owned Wood Energy Group Inc. subsidiary. Ryan, who also will serve as Banyan Rail’s chief financial officer, has more than 14 years of experience at major accounting firms, including as a senior assurance manager at Ernst & Young and Smoak, Davis & Nixon L.L.P. Most recently, he was corporate controller at the Gazit Group USA.

• RMI recently collaborated with the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. RMI sponsored an undergraduate student team in Georgia Tech’s 2011 Industrial and Systems Engineering Senior Design Competition, which the team won by developing an optimization model for industrial companies to manage rail shipments and reduce rail transportation costs. The student team worked closely with RMI staff and gained practical experience in complex modeling, data analysis and optimization techniques, RMI officials said in a prepared statement.

• PowerRail Distribution Inc. has appointed Penny Fletcher to sales manager of the Southwest territory, for which she will be responsible for expanding customer sales and service, providing product support and expanding PowerRail’s full service program. Fletcher has more than 12 years of rail industry experience.