Rio Grande Pacific, CTC Inc. of Fort Worth awarded Denton County transportation contract

Fort Worth-based Rio Grande Pacific Corp., its wholly owned subsidiary, CTC Inc., and First Transit have been awarded an operations and maintenance contract from the Denton County Transportation Authority.

The deal sees Rio Grand Pacific, a privately held railroad holding company operating four short lines in six states, and CTC, a provider of signaling, communications and train control systems, products and services to the rail industry, secure a contract running for nine years, with an additional five-year option beginning Oct. 1.

First Transit, the North American arm of UK-based First Group plc, will serve as prime contractor in the arrangement. Rio Grande Pacific and CTC will support First Transit as service partners and provide dispatching, maintenance of way and signaling services.

“When this procurement was released, First committed to providing DCTA with the finest coalition of local service partners whose expertise is recognized and experience is respected. RGPC and CTC are essential components for the success of our team,” said Gregg Baxter, vice president, rail, commenting in a news release.

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“We’re delighted DCTA chose to award this contract to our team. We look forward to many years of partnership with RGPC and CTC as we provide DCTA and its riders with the quality service our customers across the globe have come to expect,” Baxter said,

Rio Grand Pacific currently provides primary and backup third party dispatching for 10 shortline railroads traveling more than 2,000 miles of track, all from its Fort Worth headquarters.

“The addition of DCTA’s commuter line provides a nice complement to our growing portfolio of dispatching partnerships,” said Robert Bach, president, commenting in a news release.

The deal sees CTC oversee the operation and maintenance of the A-train’s signaling systems. The Fort Worth engineering firm last year provided signal systems enhancement for DCTA’s 21-mile commuter line.