ArcelorMittal Poland (AMP) has completed its PLN 200 million ($49.6m) research & development investment into producing 120m-long head-hardened rails according to the latest European and American standards.
The project has been running since 2018. In 2022, AMP contracted Danieli to carry out an energy-saving upgrade at its rail mill at Dabrowa Gornicza to help produce the new rails (see Kallanish passim).
“Demand for heat-treated rails, that is harder and with better mechanical properties than standard untreated rails, is evolving strongly,” AMP chairman Sanjay Samaddar says in a note seen by Kallanish. “That is why we decided to develop a type of rail that we did not have in our portfolio in Poland to meet the expectations of our customers.”
A line for heat treatment of rails was already in operation at the former Huta Katowice works in the 1980s, but it was based on outdated technology and was closed in the early 1990s.
The first type of R350HT rail with a hardened head will go into commercial production this year.
Adam Smith Poland
