Supply Side: Railmark, Wabtec

Railmark Holdings, Incorporated turns 25. Also, Wabtec joins the Princeton E-filliates Partnership.

Railmark, a U.S. rail industry holding company whose subsidiaries provide railroad services in railroad operations, track construction and maintenance, rail freight logistics, rail development and railroad mechanical services announced Aug. 27 that it has reached its 25^th year of providing rail services, which the company says offer “A New Train of Thought…®.”

On Aug. 27, 1998, B. Allen Brown II formed Railmark with one goal in mind—”to deliver rail services to its customers which exceed expectations and deliver them timely and with integrity.” The company says it would leave its “mark” in rail services with “quality workmanship, earn its repeat business with honesty in its recommendations, and provide flexible solutions commensurate with the customer’s needs.”

While not as large as some of its competitors, Railmark says it would always remain “right-sized” so that its corporate principals and service delivery standards remained high for all its customers and stakeholders. Though the company’s customer base includes some of the world’s largest corporations and governments, Railmark says its “commitment to its rail service delivery principles would never change due to the size of the customer served or rail project completed.”

According to Railmark, the company was among the first on many industry fronts. In 1998, when email and the internet were in the very early stages of marketplace acceptance, Railmark began its first day of business with its own website and email. In the early years of the rail industry’s push into Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Railmark was among those chosen to evaluate and beta test various short line rail management systems from an operator’s perspective.

Railmark was also an early promotor of modern short line transloading services as a means of generating additional rail traffic and expanding customer engagement. In 2007, Railmark began working with international rail projects and today has gained direct rail experience with 40 countries around the world. In 2012, Railmark launched its ECORail® line of biobased rail lubricants long before “environmental sustainability” became a corporate principle, according to the company. Railmark says it continues to invest in new rail technologies that it plans to announce in the months ahead.

Throughout the years, Railmark says it has remained committed to its business model of providing quality rail services in track construction and maintenance, railcar mechanical services, industrial rail switching, rail transportation, and transloading. Railmark serves its customers from its six “Rail Service Centers” and mobile repair teams across the U.S. and owns and operates two short line railroads —the Yreka Western Railroad and Railmark Industrial Railway. Today the company says it remains focused on building a top-flight management team which will lead Railmark through its next 25 years of delivering “A New Train of Thought…®.”

Wabtec has joined E-filliates, a corporate membership program administered by Princeton University’s Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment, to “drive new innovations for decarbonizing transportation technology.”

According to Princeton, as a member of E-filliates, Wabtec will “gain access to valuable energy and environmental thought leadership and will be exposed to wide-ranging research expertise to develop and advance sustainable transportation solutions.”

“Princeton’s leadership in energy research provides an amazing opportunity to supercharge the development of technologies that reduce transportation emissions,” said Wabtec Vice President of Advanced Technologies Philip Moslener.

By combining the Andlinger Center’s research excellence with Wabtec’s industry experience, Princeton says the partnership “aims to move sustainable mobility solutions out of the lab and into the real world.” The collaboration, Princeton adds, “seeks to unlock the full potential of transportation technologies, such as clean hydrogen, that are critical for decarbonizing transportation networks and building a carbon-neutral future.”

Barry Rand, Associate Director for External Partnerships and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, said he is excited to welcome Wabtec into E-ffiliates as a key player in the transportation sector. “The Andlinger Center is enthusiastic to have a partner in such a critical industry to the energy transition. We look forward to collaborating with Wabtec to help shape the future of sustainable transportation.”

“Wabtec is truly driving progress in clean mobility,” said Uday Karmarkar, Consulting Engineer, Wabtec Corporate Advanced Technologies. “We look forward to collaborating on innovations that benefit people and the planet.”