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• Yesterday, GE Transportation announced it has completed its acquisition of software provider RMI from The Carlyle Group. The acquisition significantly expands the company’s Software and Optimization Solutions business to serve railroad customers worldwide, GE officials said in a prepared statement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. RMI provides transportation management software for railroads, rail shippers, rail-car leasing companies and intermodal service providers in North America.

• Skanska has obtained a design-build contract for a 10-mile extension of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. The firm is leading a joint venture with Shimmick Construction and Herzog Contracting Corp., according to a Skanska press release. Skanska’s share of the contract is worth $347 million. The project will extend the heavy rail system to San Jose, Calif. Work will begin in February and is slated for completion in spring 2016. As part of a joint venture with Chediack and Milicic, Skanska also was awarded a contract to build a railway extension from the province of Neuquén to the Port of Bahía Blanca in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The total contract is worth $132 million, of which Skanska’s share is 33.4 percent. Skanska will be responsible for embankment, drainage, pavement and other civil work for a 51-mile rail extension that involves 29 bridges.

• Thales and its consortium partner, the Hungarian company Dunántúli Kft., has signed a contract worth $90.7 million with the Hungarian National Infrastructure Development Company to provide interlocking and electronic train protection technology for the 41-mile Szajol-Püspöklandany line. The project includes the design, delivery, installation and commissioning of ELEKTRA electronic interlocking systems for five train stations, an operational management center at Püspükladány station and an ETCS level 2 Radio Block Center. Around 180 points and 340 signals are controlled by the operational management center. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2015.

• Southern Alaska Forwarding (SAF) has merged with Pacific Alaska Freightways (PAF), effective Monday. Although the company’s name will change to PAF, the entire SAF Kodiak team will remain in place, according to a PAF press release. “We know the SAF business model and expect a seamless transition,” said Ed Fitzgerald, PAF’s chief executive officer. PAF provides various freight transportation services in Alaska, including steamship, barge, rail, air, intermodal, less-than-truckload and truckload.