As part of a comprehensive plan to modernize and expand its fleet of equipment, Amtrak is buying 70 new electric locomotives to provide improved performance and reliability for its Northeast intercity passenger rail services.

The six-year, $466 million contract was awarded to Siemens and will create 250 jobs primarily at a facility in Sacramento, California, but also at plants in Norwood, Ohio and Alpharetta, Georgia.

Poland’s Kulczyk Holding has been selected for exclusive talks to buy the state’s 51 per cent in Enea, the country’s third largest power generator.

The decision means that France’s GDF Suez is now out of the running to buy the utility.

Kulczyk will have until November 3 to negotiate the purchase of the government’s shares, worth more than five billion zlotys (approximately €1.2 billion).

Kulczyk Holding has emphasised that, if successful, it hopes to build a private Polish energy company around Enea.

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Mezhgosmetiz-Mtsensk OAO (MGM), a privately-held welding wire manufacturer based in the Orel region of Russia.

The acquisition will provide Lincoln its first manufacturing operation in Russia as well as established distribution channels to serve the growing Russian and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) welding markets. Terms were not disclosed. The acquisition has been approved by the Russian Federation regulatory agencies and is expected to close tomorrow.

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has posted a 6.5 per cent rise in third quarter net profits on the back of higher oil and gas prices.

Net profits rose to $3.46 billion, up from $3.25 billion a year earlier. Group revenues were $90.71 billion, compared with $75.01 billion the previous year.

Due to new field start-ups, total oil and gas production rose by five per cent to 3.058 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, beating analysts’ expectations of a 3.4 per cent rise.

Australia’s fourth largest port achieved a record financial year in 2009, handling more than 83,000,000 tonnes of coal, grain and other goods. The company managing this impressive growth is Gladstone Ports Corporation Limited.

If necessity is the mother of invention, then the same must be true for reinvention, too. It’s certainly true for Ricoh—once regarded as a manufacturer of office equipment, the company has been undergoing something of a transformation. Becky Done talks to Carsten Bruhn, VP of Ricoh Global Services Europe, to find out more.

As tempting as it might be to sit back and breathe a sigh of relief as the global economic situation begins at least to stabilise, there is plenty that manufacturers can do now to take advantage of the early signs of recovery.

Positively encouraging your current clients to mingle with your prospective clients would sound risky to even the most successful of businesses—but not if you base your operations on an honest and straightforward approach,  as Becky Done finds out from Derek Buchanan, CEO of Episys.

‘Going green’ can no longer be viewed simply as an optional consideration for business owners—it is fast becoming an operational imperative, as Abbey Petkar, managing director of Magenta Security Services, explains.