11/15/2012

Railroading Supplier Spotlight Article
Rail supplier updates from Greenbrier, Siemens, VYCON, IntegriCo and Kelso (Nov. 15)

On Tuesday, the Greenbrier Cos. Inc. announced that Carl Icahn and reporting persons affiliated with him have acquired 9.99 percent of Greenbrier's outstanding common stock. Icahn, who owns a majority interest in American Railcar Industries Inc., contacted Greenbrier President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Furman to notify him of the investment and spoke about past discussions and investments with Greenbrier, company officials said in a prepared statement. Icahn suggested the parties have further discussions possibly relating to strategic opportunities and added that he believes Greenbrier shares are undervalued. Greenbrier noted that no specific proposals or opportunities have been suggested, nor any specific times established for further conversations.

Siemens will supply signaling and control equipment for the Crossrail tunnel in London that will link the local transportation system to Network Rail's suburban regional services, Siemens announced in a prepared statement. The project company, Crossrail, placed the order with a consortium that includes Siemens. The contract is worth about $77 million. The line is slated to be commissioned in late 2018.

VYCON has obtained a $3.6 million contract from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to install a wayside energy storage substation at the Red Line Westlake/MacArthur Park Station. The substation will utilize VYCON's REGEN clean energy flywheel systems, according to a company press release. The company's technology will recycle part of the energy in the system by absorbing and storing in kinetic form energy regenerated by braking trains in the line and returning the stored energy to trains in acceleration in an instantaneous form.

IntegriCo Composites Inc. has obtained a $1.5 million contract with a major U.S. city's rapid transit authority for composite ties. The transit authority — which IntegriCo did not identify — placed an initial order for the ties in August. IntegriCo's composite ties now are installed on Class I, short line and industrial customers' tracks in the United States, Mexico, Canada and India, according to a company press release.

Kelso Technologies Inc. has entered into a strategic advisory agreement with Euro Pacific Canada Inc. to act as Kelso's exclusive financial adviser, according to a company press release. Euro Pacific will assist Kelso management with key financial planning issues as the company enters a period of accelerating business growth.