Keith Holt: From Amtrak to WSP | PB
Veteran railroad signal engineer Keith Holt has left Amtrak, where he was Deputy Chief Engineer, Communications and Signals, to become Director of Engineering for Railroad Systems at WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff.
Communications
A Siemens + Bombardier Transportation combo?
Supplier consolidations are nothing new in the global railway industry. The latest purported combination has German technology and engineering colossus Siemens AG acquiring Canadian firm Bombardier’s Transportation division, according to a report published Tuesday, April 11, in Toronto’s Globe and Mail. Bombardier shares jumped nearly 7% on the Toronto Stock Exchange after Bloomberg News, citing anonymous sources, originally broke the story.
Harding to lead Metrom Rail engineering
Metrom Rail, a developer and integrator of rail safety technology, hired Tom Harding as the company’s vice president of engineering. Harding will lead the company’s engineering operations and expand its product development
OSIsoft, LILEE Systems partner on PTC
OSIsoft, a provider of operational intelligence software, and LILEE Systems, a provider of mobile communications systems for the transportation industry, have entered into an alliance “to improve safety and equipment health of rail and transportation networks through Big Data and industrial Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to help rail operators achieve their goals for Positive Train Control (PTC),” the companies said in an April 10 announcement.
Michael Baker names Ted Coffey as VP
Michael Baker International has hired Ted Coffey as vice president and deputy national market lead in the railroad and transit practice.
SEPTA sets ‘Rebuild’ FY2018 budget
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) will advance initiatives to renew critical infrastructure, replace aging portions of its fleet, expand capacity for growing ridership and make technology improvements under its proposed Fiscal Year 2018 Capital Budget.
Commentary
AAR to Trump Administration: “Proceed with caution”
I have stressed many times in this blog, and in my monthly magazine columns—at times in harsh terms that may have offended some people who, for reasons I can’t quite figure out, took my remarks personally—that the Trump Administration’s extremely nationalistic ideology, if it morphs into law, will critically injure the railroads and the railroad supply community.
Trimble partners with Railhead
Trimble announced that it is partnering with Alsip, Ill.-based Railhead Corp. to integrate real-time remote monitoring, diagnostics and on-board video to enhance locomotive asset utilization and productivity.
GE Transportation signs ‘smart’ loco deal with DB Cargo
Europe’s largest rail freight carrier, DB Cargo, and GE Transportation have signed an agreement to digitize 250 locomotives across Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Poland over the next five years.
Railroads outpace all U.S. infrastructure in new report card
American railroads earned a grade of B for infrastructure while the rest of the U.S. sectors got a barely-passing D+ in the latest report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers.