• Portec Rail Products Inc.’s Fault Detection and Friction Management product groups recently received orders from China, the company announced in a statement issued this morning. Portec Rail’s friction management products have had a “steadily growing presence” in China; the Fault Detection product group’s orders represent the first for Portec in China, the company said. “It has been recently announced that the Chinese will be spending a new record of $120.6 billion in rail expansion efforts this year,” said Portec President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Jarosinski. “It also has been reported that the period from 2010 to 2012 will be a key period for the rail modernization effort in China according to the Ministry of Railways. … We are focused and dedicated to increasing the use of both our friction management and wayside data collection systems in China and other key international markets.”

• U.K.-based NOMAD Digital recently signed an agreement with Changzhou Railcar Propulsion Engineering R&D Centre to market the supplier’s two-way broadband connectivity for trains serving China’s mainline freight- and metro-rail markets. Under the agreement, the parties will sell and deliver a range of solutions, including engine condition monitoring, security and passenger service.