World

LONDON – The Dutch government presented the Certificate of Availability for the southern section of a high-speed rail connection between Rotterdam and the Belgian border. The certificate is an important step in achieving The Netherlands’ first high-speed rail link as the southern section is now open for operation. The certificate was presented July 28 to David Gedney, chief executive of Infraspeed and senior vice president operations of Fluor’s Infrastructure business line. The Fluor-led Infraspeed consortium was selected by the Dutch government to design, build, finance and maintain the HSL-Zuid high-speed rail connection for a period of 5 years for construction

WILMERDING, Pa. – Wabtec Corp.’s Wabtec Rail subsidiary has signed a $27 million contract to refurbish 103 passenger cars for high-speed trains operated by Great North Eastern Railway Limited (GNER) of London. The project will begin immediately, with deliveries scheduled for 2007-08. “This contract represents an important milestone in the growth of our vehicle refurbishment capabilities at Wabtec Rail,” said Albert J. Neupaver, Wabtec’s president and chief executive officer. Under the contract, Wabtec Rail will refurbish the interior of the cars, including new seating, luggage racks and lighting, and will paint the exterior. The work will be performed at Wabtec

DALLAS – Trinity Industries Inc. has completed the sale of the company’s European Rail business to International Railway Systems S.A. The European Rail business was sold for $30 million plus working capital as defined in the sale agreement and the assumption of leases with obligations totaling approximately $6 million. The financial impact of the transaction will be recorded in the company’s third quarter ending Sept. 30, 2006. The company does not expect a material financial impact to be recorded as a result of the transaction. Trinity Industries, headquartered in Dallas, is one of the nation’s leading diversified industrial companies. Trinity

ARNHEM, the Netherlands — The Polish operation of international consultancy and engineering company ARCADIS is part of a consortium that has been awarded the contract for the supervision and project management of the modernization of a 37.2-mile long section of the railway. The section to be revamped runs from Skierniewice to Lodz, in Central Poland. The total construction sum for the project will be approximately $280.5 million; ARCADIS’ fees will amount to $3.8 million. The project is part of the 78.9-mile railway line between Warsaw and Lodz, two Polish urban areas with more than 3 million inhabitants. Modernization of the

NEW DELHI, India – Officials here are battling a unique problem: They’re trying to keep monkeys out of the city’s subway system. As part of the battle, officials have brought in the langur, which The Associated Press describes as “fierce-looking primate.” The subway system has paid a retainer to a langurwallah – a man who keeps the langur. The decision was made after a monkey made his way into a subway car in June, according to an AP report that cited the Hindustan Times newspaper.