Kentucky-based R.J. Corman Railroad Group has a deal to buy Quebec’s ailing Railpower Technologies, a maker of “clean” locomotives and other products, and then sell back some pieces to a group of Railpower managers, The Journal of Commerce reported. The companies said they have a binding agreement, under which Corman obtains the Canadian firm that is operating under court protection and its U.S. unit, and all assets “except cash on hand and on deposit in financial institutions, the land and property located in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu (Quebec) and two road switching locomotives.” The deal also will have Corman sell back some assets to current managers who will operate under a new corporation. Those include the technology for rubber-tired gantry cranes that use a hybrid power plant and license to use that intellectual property for other applications. Besides the cranes, Railpower makes locomotives for the low- and medium-power markets in North America, such as yard or switcher engines. In February, it filed to reorganize under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act in Canada, shed its former CEO and made a bankruptcy court filing in the United States for it to recognize the Canadian proceedings. The hard-hit rail freight market has seen traffic levels plunge, and various suppliers lose orders and profits while customers pull existing equipment out of revenue service until shipments pick back up. Read more.