British Steel has secured a four-year contract awarded by the Belgian infrastructure manager Infrabel. It will renew and maintain the Belgian rail network starting from January 2019.

The agreements means that the British manufacturer will supply between 35,000 and 40,000 tonnes of rail per year up till end 2021. This is equal to more than 3,000 km of rail. The contract implies a continuation of the earlier cooperation with Infrabel, after a short interval.

Delivery

The steel for the rails will be manufactured at British Steel’s headquarters in Scunthorpe, England, before being transported to the company’s state-of-the art rail rolling facility in Hayange, France.

From Hayange, a shuttle service will deliver train loads of the rail direct to Infrabel’s welding plants in varying lengths including 100 metres. The main grade of rail will be British Steel’s R260 although there’ll also be smaller volumes of its Stress-Free heat-treated and switch rails.

Network Rail

End September 2019 British Steel signed a two-year extension of its contract with Network Rail, the company operating and maintaining the UK’s rail infrastructure. The agreement will see it supply Network Rail with over 200,000 tonnes (4,000km) of rail.

Richard said: “We’ve an excellent tradition of working with national operators such as Infrabel, Network Rail and SNCF who are all benefiting from our products and services. By working in partnership with our customers we can offer superb value for money by reducing the need for costly and time-consuming maintenance and replacement works. The less disruption to a network, the greater the flow of traffic – major benefits felt by passengers and freight operators.”