Timken Co has agreed to acquire linear guide, telescopic rail and linear actuator supplier Rollon Group from Chequers Capital and IGI Private Equity. Rollon has 600 staff and manufacturing sites in Italy, Germany and the USA. The debt-funded transaction is expected to close in late September.
Bombardier Transportation has awarded energy and services group Engie a €250m five-year global framework contract for facilities management, including building maintenance, cleaning, security, catering, reception and helpdesk services. 'Engie will help Bombardier Transportation to better focus on its core activities, while further increasing efficiencies, as we continue to drive our transformation towards our 2020 goals', said Bombardier Transportation Chief Operating Officer Jim Vounassis.
Iranian industrial group MAPNA’s rail business has opened a workshop for the disassembly, cleaning, inspection, assembly and final testing of X4DE locomotive gearboxes.
UK infrastructure manager Network Rail is one of the first organisations to use two new versions of the Infrastructure Conditions of Contract released by the Association for Consultancy & Engineering. These are designed to be more concise, easier to read and future-proofed. 'We’re delighted that these new contracts have been released as they will build an even stronger environment of consistency and trust with our suppliers', said NR Commercial Projects Director Stephen Blakey.
FreightCar America has reported revenue of $66·7m on deliveries of 1 185 units in its second quarter to June 30 2018, with a net loss of $2·3m. 'The second quarter marks another step in the right direction', said President & CEO Jim Meyer. 'Our marketplace remains extremely challenging with continued pressures on pricing, and our backlog includes several smaller production runs. However, we have made meaningful progress on our Back to Basics operational improvement strategy and those efforts positively impacted our quarterly results. We are ahead of schedule on our previously announced plan to reduce our cost of goods sold by $3 000 to $4 000 per railcar by year end. As a result, we are now increasing our goal to exit the year on a run rate of $4 000 to $5 000 in savings per railcar.'
Perpetuum Ltd has secured £3m from the UK’s Rail Supply Growth Fund to support the development and deployment of its wireless condition monitoring system. This uses specially designed sensors to continuously monitor and report the condition of wheels, bearings and gearboxes as well as the state of the track and passenger ride quality. Vibrations from trains are used to generate energy, making it entirely self-sustaining and offering cost savings compared to battery or externally powered systems.
nVent Electric plc has been spun off from Pentair as an independent company which includes the Erico, Eriflex, Hoffman, Schroff and Raychem brands. It has nearly 9 000 employees worldwide, with its main office in London and a US management office in Minneapolis.
Head of Commercial David Jordan has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of leasing company Angel Trains, succeeding Kevin Tribley who was named CEO on July 12 following Malcolm Brown’s departure to join AMP Capital.
