British Steel wins contract for Turkish high speed rail project

A multimillion-pound contract to supply rail for a new high-speed electric railway in Turkey has been won by British Steel.

The company will deliver tens of thousands of tonnes of track for the project connecting Mersin with the cities of Adana, Osmaniye and Gaziantep in southern Turkey. It will help create a lower-emission transport link between Turkey’s second-largest container port and inland cities more than 150 miles away, with the project expected to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 150,000 tonnes a year.

The work will take place at British Steel's Scunthorpe plant, with the first shipments expected to be made in the next few weeks. Each rail will be 36 metres in length.

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British Steel president and chief executive Xijun Cao said: “We’re delighted British Steel has been awarded this contract, and to be involved in such an important project. Not only will electrification greatly enhance the transport infrastructure in southern Turkey, it will also deliver significant environmental benefits.

“We pride ourselves on providing solutions to the challenges our customers face and look forward to supplying this project with the world-leading rail synonymous with the British Steel name.”

British Steel said pivotal to the project is the backing of UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK Government’s export credit agency, which has underwritten around £680m to support construction of the 286km (177 mile) railway.

British Steel’s commercial director, rail, Craig Harvey, said: “This is the start of what we expect to be a new unique partnership between British Steel, UKEF and international contractors. The ability to combine world-leading quality rail with a world-leading finance solution for supply into global markets and networks is an unparalleled supply chain solution.”