A signing and handover ceremony took place Wednesday at the Luther G. Smith rail yard at the Railroaders Memorial Museum, where the tamper machine will be housed.

The machine is one of the most critical pieces of equipment in rail maintenance, Blechinger said, adding it’s used to align and stabilize tracks, ensuring they’re level and straight. The GRM2000 will be used to support hands-on education, research and industry-aligned training for the program’s students, officials said.

The gift was also a statement that Plasser American believes in Penn State Altoona’s rail transportation engineering program, which Blechinger called “a national asset” and “the only bachelor’s program of its kind.”

“We’re not giving this to you to look at. We’re giving it to you to use, to understand and to challenge because that’s how engineers are made; not through theory alone, but when theory meets steel,” Blechinger said to a crowd of Penn State Altoona students and faculty members. “We believe in what you’re doing here.”

Thomas Blechinger (right), president and CEO of Plasser American, speaks at the handover ceremony at the Railroaders Memorial Museum on Wednesday. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

Blechinger said the program doesn’t just teach engineering, it builds competence, discipline and judgment. Those qualities are not optional in the rail industry, he said.

“Rail does not tolerate guesswork,” Blechinger said. “You need engineers who can read data and recognize when a machine is not performing the way it should. That’s exactly what you’re doing here.”

Penn State Altoona Chancellor Ron Darbeau said the college is home to North America’s only ABET-accredited rail transportation program.

“It’s a program we’re growing,” Darbeau said.

“By providing this gift, the GRM2000, it is another indication of the industry’s investment in what we’re doing,” he added. “It’s a nod to the quality of students we graduate, and I am deeply grateful for the evolving partnerships that are happening between us, the museum and the industry in general.”

Penn State Altoona chancellor and dean Ron Darbeau (left) checks out the Plasser American GRM2000 tamper machine at the Railroaders Memorial Museum on Wednesday afternoon. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

Joe DeFrancesco, the museum’s executive director, said he is equally as grateful for the growing partnership with the college.

“Going back over my decade-plus time here at the museum, I think it could be summarized by saying I don’t like to see things go idle or stand still,” DeFrancesco said. “This partnership allows the museum to move forward on many different fronts.”

Hans Dumer of Plasser and Theurer Austria said it’s rare for him and Blechinger to hand over a machine to a university and not a railroad company or a contractor.

“That shows how special this day is for us,” Dumer said.

Joe Carter, a 2024 graduate of the rail transportation engineering program who now works for Penn State Altoona and helps with recruitment for the program, said the tamper machine will provide students the opportunity to learn what goes into designing, maintaining and “things of that nature” for a proper track structure to run trains on.

Plasser American president and CEO Thomas Blechinger (left) and Penn State Altoona chancellor and dean Ron Darbeau shake after the signing and handover of a GRM2000 tamper machine to the Rail Transportation Engineering program at the Railroaders Memorial Museum on Wednesday afternoon. Master of ceremonies and Penn State Altoona Senior Director of Development and Alumni Relations Mary Ann Amato is pictured at right. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

“Now, rather than just theoretically learning about it, it’s something to get your hands on, practice with it and see what it’s all about,” Carter said, noting going through the program opened up doors for him that he never thought were possible.

Students will be able to leave Penn State Altoona and market themselves to potential employers as someone who knows how to build a good rail track and what it takes to run trains on it, Carter said.

Obtaining the machine is a key moment in the college’s history that will change the rail transportation engineering program’s trajectory forever, Darbeau said.

“There are moments in time when you’re aware of a pivotal change when circumstances around you suggest a sudden change in trajectory,” Darbeau said. “I know the folks who are connected to this program can feel the winds of change.”

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.