Supply Side: PS Technology, Wabtec, Senceive, Bentley

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
BRC is using a new cloud-based crew management system from PS Technology to automate record-keeping and scheduling processes.

BRC is using a new cloud-based crew management system from PS Technology to automate record-keeping and scheduling processes.

The Belt Railway Company of Chicago (BRC) has selected PS Technology’s (PST) crew management system; Wabtec Corp. will supply Alstom with advanced brake systems and other components for new trains in India; Canadian industrial technology group Eddyfi/NDT has acquired London-based Senceive Ltd.; and Bentley Systems, Inc., an infrastructure engineering software company, has established an education program and is purchasing two software providers.

BRC will use CrewPro Short Line™ from PST to handle crew scheduling and hours-of-service (HOS) requirements. The cloud-based system automates record-keeping and scheduling processes, while helping to ensure regulatory compliance, according to PST.

“The decision for CrewPro was really made for me when we realized the comprehensive automation that CrewPro provides would significantly improve how we do business,” BRC General Manager Percy Fields said. “Furthermore, crews can now easily log-in at the start of their shift, while the HOS tracking assures no violations happen. Frankly, the crews themselves will like being able to view assignments, and post for bids and bumps.”

BRC, the largest intermediate switching terminal railroad in the United States, employs about 450 people.

(Alstom photo)

Under a $15 million contract, Wabtec is providing Alstom with advanced technology brake systems, pantographs, roof disconnector switches, and fully integrated passenger information systems for Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transport System (RRTS) rolling stock. Alstom is building 30 six-car regional commuter and 10 four-car metro trains for the new 51-mile (82-kilometer) RRTS corridor, which will run from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi, to Modipuram, north of Meerut, and have 24 stations and two depots at Duhai and Modipuram. Line construction began earlier this year.

In other developments, Wabtec has reported that its FLXdrive Battery Locomotive was the transportation category winner of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards. The company was also honored as a Gold Stevie® Award Winner in the 2021 American Business Awards®. Wabtec said it was recognized “for its accomplishments in 2020, which included the introduction of the FLXdrive Battery Locomotive, helping railroads meet the U.S. [federally]-mandated PTC deadline, the first Trip Optimizer Zero-to-Zero order, the launch of the company’s sustainability strategy, and more.”

Senceive Ltd., which provides wireless condition-monitoring technology for civil engineering applications, is joining Eddyfi/NDT as a stand-alone company. It will continue to operate under the Senceive name.

“[W]ith the acquisition of Senceive, we are taking our first steps in infrastructure monitoring, a critical, dynamic and huge market powered by innovation and technological advances,” Eddyfi/NDT CEO Martin Theriault said. “The timing is perfect to increase focus on this sector—with the global pandemic clearly demonstrating the need to reduce site visits by using wireless remote-monitoring solutions. We see a great synergy between the test and inspection expertise within our business and the longer-term condition monitoring capability of Senceive.”

Bentley Education’s new online portal offers eligible students and instructors—from secondary school to college and beyond—access to resources such as news and emerging trends in architecture, engineering and construction, and to learning licenses for more than 40 of Bentley’s applications, including ContextCapture, MicroStation, OpenRoads Designer, STAAD.Pro, and SYNCHRO. The education program is initially available in the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Ireland and Lithuania; the company said it plans to expand to the United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America and India by mid-summer. Bentley also announced it will hold a Future Infrastructure Star Challenge in 2021.

“We want to inspire and encourage students to learn about infrastructure engineering as a possible career path, and to introduce these young minds to the vast opportunities that lie ahead, with infrastructure going digital,” said Katriona Lord-Levins, Chief Success Officer for Bentley.

Additionally, Bentley is acquiring Sensemetrics and Vista Data Vision, software providers for Internet of Things (IoT) applications, to “expand the scope of the Bentley iTwin platform,” the company said. 

Geotechnical engineering firms, land surveyors, and civil and structural engineering firms, as well as asset owner-operators in mining, transportation and utilities apply Sensemetrics and Vista Data Vision offerings for geological, geotechnical, structural and environmental monitoring, according to Bentley. Both support interfaces to hundreds of sensor devices and related data types, including robotic total stations, inclinometers, piezometers, strain gauges, crack meters, tilt meters, extensometers, anemometers, and for vibration data, pressure cells, temperature, solar insolation, precipitation, water quality, and air quality, according to Bentley. Sensemetrics and Vista Data Vision also complement, Seequent, 3D-modeling software provider that Bentley acquired earlier this year.  

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