On June 1st, Protran Technology was awarded its first major contract from Brazil’s Belo Horizonte Metro for the “Protracker / PTC” track worker protection overlay system for advance warning of approaching trains.
A new website for the railroad industry is now available to the public. RailAdvisor.com was created to offer solutions and to inform the industry of a product, service, event or technical concept. The website is designed with categories for solutions, product/service offerings, contacts, news, railway terminology and forums.
GE Transportation has chosen Chicago, Ill., as its global headquarters. Erie, Pa., will remain the headquarters for GE Transportation’s global locomotive business and key manufacturing site.
Gannett Fleming, Inc., has named Joel Lee vice president of the company and hired John Hugunin as senior project manager.
Parsons Brinckerhoff was awarded two contracts covering design of railway systems, one of which is for the United Kingdom’s second high-speed rail line, which will run between London Euston and Birmingham in the West Midlands.
CalAmp Corp., provider of wireless products, services and solutions, received initial purchase orders totaling approximately $5 million to supply interoperable Positive Train Control radios to two North American Class 1 railroads for delivery in the second half of calendar 2012.
Invensys Rail and DPS Electronics entered into a manufacturer’s licensing arrangement under which DPS may manufacture and sell its end of train devices (EOTs) with certain telemetry features patented by Invensys. For those EOTs, Invensys Rail will provide the communications, central office services and end-user experience through its software as a service business hosted at www.eotph.com and commonly referred to as EOT Phone Home.
Invensys Rail Corp. acquired PHW, Inc., from the current owner/managers for up to $24,000,000.00. The company will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Invensys Rail Corp.
L.B. Foster Company plans to sell its railway securement business in a transaction expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter. L.B. Foster acquired the shipping systems division as part of its acquisition of Portec Rail Products, Inc. in December 2010.
Axion International Holdings, Inc., has received its first purchase order being shipped to New Zealand’s Kiwi Rail. The railroad ties are the rail line’s first such order of Axion’s recycled ECOTRAX products and are being installed in critical application areas such as turnout switch-sets and transoms.
Osmose Holdings, Inc., manufacturer of wood preservation chemistry and technology, has closed an agreement to be acquired by certain investment funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. of Los Angeles, Calif.
HDR, Inc., has acquired the business of Stetson Engineering, Inc., a Wyoming-based firm with offices in Gillette and Riverton. Stetson Engineering, Inc., specializes in design, engineering and consulting services related to water, sewer, storm sewer, hydrology and transportation.
Ahmed El-Aassar, Ph.D., INCE, ASA, a vice president with Environmental Acoustics, Inc., an affiliate firm of Gannett Fleming specializing in noise and air quality, has been recognized by CSX Transportation with an Outstanding Service Award in the Environmental Services Category. Based in the firm’s Lemoyne, Pa., office, El-Aassar serves as a project manager for noise and air quality projects.
Lilee Systems, provider of communication systems designed exclusively for the railroad industry, has achieved Red Hat Hardware Certification for the company’s WMS-2000 wayside messaging server, making it the first wayside messaging server with internal 3G, GPS and IP KVM options to achieve Red Hat certification. Now, Lilee says customers deploying WMS-2000 with embedded Red Hat Enterprise Linux are offered proven performance and reliability.
Modjeski and Masters, a bridge engineering firm, has named David Petermeier, PE, SE vice president. In this role, Petermeier will help guide strategy for Modjeski and Masters, while continuing to oversee operations throughout the Mid-America region.
RMI, a GE Transportation company and provider of transportation management software and analytics to the railroad industry, has been selected as a 2012 Top 100 Logistics Technology Company by Inbound Logistics magazine for the seventh consecutive year.
Judy Hricak, CPSM, vice president, was promoted to chief marketing officer of Gannett Fleming. Hricak is the first Gannett Fleming employee to hold this title, reflecting her efforts to develop and maintain a corporate marketing strategy that consistently and effectively promotes Gannett Fleming on a national and international basis.
Koppers Inc. and Union Pacific agreed to extend their existing sales contract for an additional five years through January 31, 2017. Koppers provides treated railroad crossties and other railroad-related products and services to Union Pacific.
RailComm has provided its Track Warrant Control (TWC) System for Chile’s Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado (EFE). RailComm’s Domain Operations Controller train control system is used for dispatching and train management at two of EFE’s three dispatching centers.
Auto Truck Group promoted Matt McGowan to director sales, western region. Action plans developed and approved through the company’s recent strategic planning process led to the realignment of its sales team and this new position.