Wabtec Strikes DGNB Gold in Germany

Wabtec Corp. has struck gold in Germany—DGNB (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen, or “German Sustainable Building Council”) Gold, that is. The U.S.-based global railway supplier has broken ground in Bochum on a 20,000-square-meter facility for developing, manufacturing and/or maintaining transit vehicle brakes and couplers. Described as “green and state-of-the-art,” the plant will be DGNB Gold-certified “in recognition of its sustainable and innovative design” when completed in third-quarter 2020.

OneRail: A FAST Policy Proposal

Now that the impeachment of President Trump has ended, Congress is expected get back to work on its legislative agenda, which by most accounts has a huge backlog. One of the priorities is developing bipartisan legislation reauthorizing infrastructure funding programs under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, currently set to expire on Sept. 30, 2020. The OneRail Coalition has released a policy proposal with the organization’s FAST priorities.

MRL Promotes Three

Montana Rail Link (MRL) has promoted Joe Racicot, Jim Lewis and Ross Lane to Vice President positions. Racicot previously served as General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer, and has been promoted to Vice President Administration and General Counsel. Lewis previously served as Chief Sales and Marketing Officer and has been promoted to Vice President Sales and Marketing. Lane previously served as Chief Communications Officer and has been promoted to Vice President Corporate Relations.

Oil and Gas Conglomerate Invests in Masabi—and Public Transportation

Masabi, a global developer of FPaaS (Fare Payments-as-a-Service) for public transport, on Feb. 6 announced that it has finalized an investment from Shell, among the world’s largest oil and gas companies. “This investment will help support the global expansion of Masabi’s Justride platform, which is bringing cutting-edge ticketing technology and enabling Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) for public transport operators and authorities of all sizes around the globe,” the company said. Masabi and Shell did not disclose the terms of the investment.

SpikeEase Sales Spike Still Spiraling

Focused Technology Solutions, Inc. (a Marmon/Berkshire Hathaway Company) reports that the SpikeEase, the company’s flagship product, “is continuing to pull in orders from multiple Class I railroads. Our strong start to 2020 follows a very successful fourth-quarter 2019.”

R&N Opens New Bridge

Class II Reading & Northern’s new Nesquehoning Bridge Phase 2, the product of more than 20 years of work led by Owner and CEO Andy Muller, Jr., connects the railroad’s Reading and Lehigh Divisions, “allowing for progressive, expedited moves between Reading and the Scranton area.”

Read-Throughs From Class I Earnings: Cowen

Class I railroad capital expenditures “could decline by high single-digits to mid-teens this year,” Cowen and Company freight transportation analyst Matt Elkott notes in a Jan. 30 report, “but it is not all bad news,” at least for one supplier.

Ronnie Hakim Joins HNTB

Veronique “Ronnie” Hakim, a career transit and transportation professional who has led some of the largest transportation agencies in the nation, on Feb. 3 joined HNTB as Senior Vice President and National Transit and Rail Market Sector Leader. Based in HNTB’s New York City office, she is responsible for collaborating with HNTB leadership nationwide on strategic planning and implementation, industry representation, business development, service delivery, and client collaboration and satisfaction.

KC Streetcar: Hail to The Chiefs! (Updated)

On Feb. 2, the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs returned to the Super Bowl after a 50-year drought and won the Vince Lombardi Trophy, coming back in the fourth quarter to defeat the five-time champion San Francisco 49ers 31-20. The Chiefs, three years after their 35-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl I on Jan. 15, 1967, defeated the Minnesota Vikings 23-7 in Super Bowl IV, Jan. 11, 1970. Fifty years later, the AFC champion Chiefs not only brought home the Super Bowl LIV title, but made extra special the effort put forth by the Kansas City Streetcar Authority (KCSA) to honor and support the team.

Commentary

USMCA: NAFTA Rebooted, Not All That Different

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), essentially a reboot of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which has governed trade among the United States and its North American neighbors since 1994, is now in place. President Donald Trump signed the agreement in a ceremony marked by “great fanfare,” as one news outlet described it, on the South Lawn of the White House on Jan. 29, with about 400 guests, including farmers, corporate executives and workers, members of the Republican party, but not surprisingly, no representatives from the Democratic congressional contingent that supported its ratification.

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