Mount Olive, North Carolina, February 13, 2000

IMPulse NC LLC, the leading North American supplier of traction power systems, has acquired the assets of the Traction Rectifier Business of ABB Automation, Inc. of New Berlin, Wisconsin. The business consists of Diode and Thyristor rectifiers and specialty relays for traction applications.

ABB's history in supplying Traction Rectifiers goes back for many years and includes installations in most every major Transit system in North America. This merger of designs and products with IMPusle NC existing offering will continue to keep IMPulse in the forefront of the traction power industry.

In addition to this acquisition, IMPulse NC is also pleased to announce that it has been appointed by Balfour Beatty Rail Power Systems (formerly Adtranz Fixed Installations) as the exclusive distributor of their Thyristor Traction Rectifiers for transportation applications in North America. While more transit agencies evaluate the advantages of Thyristor technology in traction applications, this combination of IMPulse's strong market presence and Balfour Beatty's proven technology will provide them with a truly proven product. These products are successfully operating in a number of locations including South Korea and Sweden and at DART in Dallas, Texas.

IMPulse NC continues to position itself as the leader in the traction power industry, providing complete traction power systems that include substations and overhead electrification hardware for streetcar, electric trolley bus, light rail and heavy rail applications.

IMPulse NC is a member of The Marmon Group of companies; an international association of autonomous manufacturing and service companies with collective sales in excess of $7 billion.