Rio Tinto announced Dec. 28, 2018 that it successfully completed its $940 million AutoHaul project to automate the operation of its 1,700-km (1,054-mile) heavy-haul rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, which it says is now the “world’s largest robot and first automated heavy-haul, long-distance rail network.”
Japan’s Hitachi Group has reached an agreement with Paul Singer-led hedge fund Elliott to purchase the investment group’s 31.8% stake in Italy’s Ansaldo STS for €807.8 million ($919.7 million), or $14.46 per share—another step in its desire to own 100% of the company founded by George Westinghouse as Union Switch & Signal in 1881.
Global mining conglomerate Rio Tinto says AutoHaul®—the US$518 million automation of its Western Australia Pilbara iron ore heavy-haul rail network—is progressing well, with about 20% of all train-miles now operating in autonomous mode, albeit with on board locomotive engineers managing certain safety and reliability systems.
VHB has been named the local lead signal design consultant to work as part of the Ansaldo STS team on a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority $338 million project to equip the Boston commuter rail network with Positive Train Control (PTC). Ansaldo STS is a Hitachi Group company.
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) on May 2, 2016 publicly unveiled the prototype four-car driverless trainset for the new Honolulu Metro, which is schedule to open in about two years.
Hitachi Rail USA on March 17, 2016 officially opened its new 140,400-square-foot rail vehicle assembly plant in Medley, Fla., when the Mayor of Miami-Dade County, Carlos Gimenez, inaugurated the facility with the unveiling of a full-size mockup of a new railcar for Miami Metrorail.
Ansaldo STS, a Hitachi Group Company, has been awarded a $53.2 million contract from Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) for the full design and build of the agency’s Media-Sharon Hill Lines Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) system, the company announced Nov. 13, 2015.
Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric Co. said Friday, April 4, 2014 it sees no route for purchasing Ansaldo STS from parent Finmeccanica S.p.A.
Ansaldo STS said Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 it has been awarded a $20.5 million signaling contract to provide MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) an upgraded 45-mile segment of right-of-way between Speonk and Montauk, N.Y., the easternmost portion of LIRR’s Montauk Branch, located in Suffolk County.
