Rail supplier news from Intramotev, FTS, Hydra and Cattron

Intramotev recently participated in a technology assessment at Operation Sentinel Justice, a U.S. Army Reserve training exercise that took place at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center in Mississippi. Soldiers were trained on using Intramotev's TugVolt autonomous rail car as a switcher to move military rail cars between spurs for loading and unloading, Intramotev officials said in a press release. At the end of the event, non-training rail cars arrived at Camp Shelby, allowing soldiers to deploy the TugVolt for a real operation. Intramotev partnered with the U.S. Army Reserve Command's 75th Innovation Command, the 377th Theater Sustainment Command, the Deployment Support Command and its 757th Expeditionary Rail Center and the Mississippi Army National Guard for the exercise. FTS Rail has been awarded a subaward under the Rail Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (Rail Safety IDEA) program to deploy and validate a domestically manufactured industrial internet of things-based switch monitoring system at 40 locations across U.S. freight- and transit-rail networks. The project — RS-60 — is administered by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and supported by a cooperative agreement between the Federal Railroad Administration and the NAS, FTS officials said in a press release. Project RS-60 was selected for its potential to significantly reduce turnout failures by enabling predictive, condition-based maintenance strategies. FTS' rail monitoring system captures vertical tie movement, lateral rail movement and real-time rail temperatures at switch points and frogs. Hydra, a Patriot Rail Co. logistics company, has deployed a new compressed natural gas (CNG) truck to support the company's transloading and warehousing business. Hydra is partnering with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to reduce emissions from freight transportation throughout California's San Joaquin Valley, Patriot Rail officials said in a press release. This is the second CNG deployed by Hydra; the new vehicle is already operating on key lanes to support backhaul freight. Hydra combines freight-rail efficiency with its own logistics services to develop tailored shipping solutions, they added. Cattron has announced that a range of its industrial and locomotive wireless remote control and safety products meet the requirements of the European Union's Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). The CRA introduced mandatory cybersecurity requirements for products with digital elements being sold in the EU market. The regulation took effect on Dec. 10, 2024. Manufacturer reporting obligations will start on Sept. 11, 2026, and full compliance is required by Dec. 11, 2027. This announcement positions Cattron among the first in the industry to confirm its compliance with CRA cybersecurity expectations, giving users a path to achieve compliance ahead of the regulatory deadlines, Cattron officials said in a press release.