Supply Side: ENSCO, RailPros, Wi-Tronix

ASLRRA’s Fred Oelsner, Cameron Downs and Richard Sherman recently joined Wi-Tronix’s Chad Jasmin for a field tour of Amtrak’s Ivy City Maintenance Facility in Washington, D.C. (ASLRRA Photograph)

The U.S. Department of Labor recognizes railway track inspection and measurement technology provider ENSCO for excellence in recruiting, employing and retaining America’s veterans. Also, engineering and diversified safety services company RailPros opens a Chicago office; and American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) staffers visit Amtrak’s Ivy City Maintenance Facility in Washington, D.C., to learn about Wi-Tronix’s onboard locomotive system implementation.

ENSCO, Inc.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Nov. 8 honored small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and national corporations with 2023 HIRE Vets Medallion Awards. These “veteran-ready employers” received an award certificate along with a digital image of the medallion for their use, including as part of an advertisement, solicitation, business activity, or product, according to the department, which announced the awards in the Nov. 24 edition of the Federal Register (download below).

The awards are conferred in six categories, based on the size of the employer (small, medium or large) and what level of criteria their application met (platinum or gold). According to the department, the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) received 864 award applications this year, and the Secretary of Labor approved 859; of those approved, 246 small, 223 medium, and 71 large organizations received gold awards, and 147 small, 153 medium and 19 large organizations received platinum awards. Among the honorees was ENSCO, Inc., a large company that provides engineering, science, and advanced technology solutions to governments and the aerospace, national security and surface transportation sectors. It earned a gold award. ENSCO subsidiary ENSCO Rail, Inc. earned a gold award in the medium-sized company category. Both are based in Springfield, Va.

In a related development, ENSCO Rail, Inc. on Nov. 17 reported receiving a contract for its track geometry and rail wear measurement technology from private-sector railroad Brightline, which operates intercity passenger service between central and south Florida. Also, ENSCO in April announced that the Federal Railroad Administration awarded the company a new five-year contract to carry out its Automated Track Inspection Program.

RailPros

Irving, Tex.-based RailPros earlier this month launched a Chicago, Ill., office, which it said represents its “commitment to providing localized, top-tier support while fostering growth and excellence in rail and transit solutions.” The company now has physical offices in eight states with employees across North America. It provides turnkey engineering, project/program, and construction management and flagging safety services to both public and private customers, and has training and media production capabilities.

“We continue to experience sustained growth and see a need for a physical footprint in Chicago, where we have a growing number of clients,” RailPros CEO Ken Koff said. “Establishing an office in Chicago allows Jennifer Drake and her team to be readily available to our clients in the greater Chicagoland region and across the Midwest.”

Located at 200 S. Wacker Drive, Suite 3100, the new office will be the headquarters for Drake, who joined RailPros in September as Vice President of Engineering Central Region, and a growing team of engineers.

“Chicago, with its rich history in rail and transit, is a strategic location for us, and we look forward to working on rail and transit projects in the Greater Chicago Area for many years to come,” Drake said. “I am excited to collaborate with our exceptional team and have face-to-face interactions with our clients in our brand-new office space.”

In other RailPros news, Lenora Isaac, Director of Rail and Transit Projects, was one of 23 honorees selected for Railway Age’s 2023 Women in Rail Awards.

Wi-Tronix

ASLRRA’s VP, Data and Technology Fred Oelsner; Director, Data and Research Cameron Downs; and AVP, Policy and Industry Affairs Richard Sherman (pictured, left) recently joined Chad Jasmin, VP of Sales and Customer Experience for ASLRRA member company Wi-Tronix, for a field tour of Amtrak’s Ivy City Maintenance Facility in Washington, D.C. They learned about Amtrak’s implementation of on-board locomotive technology systems, according to the association.

“Amtrak’s Senior Manager of Equipment Engineering for Electric Locomotives Ricky Rose and Senior Electrical Engineer Amanda Stewart hosted the group, showing them the implementation of systems, including Wi-Tronix’s Violet, in various diesel and electric locomotive models,” ASLRRA reported in the Nov. 22 edition of its Views & News newsletter.

“The group also learned about the systems’ condition monitoring and reporting and event recording functions, and the Wi-Tronix backend systems and the interface with Amtrak’s enterprise operational and mechanical IT systems.”

Separately, Brightline and Wi-Tronix in September were awarded $1.65 million from the Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements competitive grant program for development of an AI (artificial intelligence)-backed monitoring system to collect real-time data of trespassing activity along the Brightline/Florida East Coast Railway corridor. Described as a “first-of-its-kind system,” it will collect data from locomotive front-end cameras to “guide future decisions related to infrastructure, enforcement and education.”

To learn more about Wi-Tronix, a provider of remote monitoring, video analytics, and proactive diagnostic information for freight and passenger rail networks read: For Wi-Tronix, a Technology Immersion