Scunthorpe‘s British Steel will produce 9,500 tonnes of track for a pioneering railway line in North Africa.
The steel company has been awarded a multi-million pound contract to deliver track for Egypt’s Green Line railway, which will be produced in North Lincolnshire. This will be the country’s first fully electrified mainline and freight network, reaching 410 miles long (660km).
It will stretch from the the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The network will carry passengers and goods up to a maximum speed of 155mph.
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British Steel is among a number of key suppliers for the project and all the track it produces will be made at the Scunthorpe steelworks. Rail supplied is 60E1 in grade R260, each at 18 metres in length.
British Steel commercial manager export – rail, Jérôme Bonef, said: “We are delighted British Steel has been awarded this contract and to be involved in such a transformational project for Egypt, which will bring significant improvements to the transport network. The British Steel rail business prides itself on providing value solutions to our customers, being easy to trade with whilst providing on-time deliveries with world-leading quality.”
Two shipments of rail will be transported from British Steel’s Scunthorpe site for Egypt’s Green Line. The first will be shipped off to Alexandria this month, and the second in June. It will be used to extend the line from Alexandria via El Alamein to the Mediterranean coast in the north-west, and eastwards to the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea.
Orascom Construction and Arab Contractors Joint Venture are managing the project. The National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) for Egypt is handling the design, construction, commissioning and operation of the line.
(Image: British Steel)
British Steel is currently building a £10m rail stock facility at Scunthorpe, due for completion this summer. At present, rails are stored in a number of locations across the country. Once the new facility is complete, it will all be stored by British Steel at its Scunthorpe site.
The Egypt contract is not the first time the Scunthorpe steelworks has produced rail track for abroad. In 2018, British Steel landed a four-year contract to supply more than 3,000km of rail to Belgium.
The company recently also applied for planning permission for a 50m long by 12m wide steel rail service building, by Mill Field Road. This would enable light servicing and inspection of rail wagons to take place with shelter from the weather.
The proposed electric arc furnace at the Scunthorpe steel works remains pending consideration. However, the Teesside electric arc furnace was recently granted planning permission. Together, they are set to replace Scunthorpe’s coke blast furnaces.
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Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe
