British Steel has won a multi-million-pound contract to supply rail to Turkey. It will deliver tens of thousands of tonnes of track for a new high-speed electric railway connecting Mersin with the cities of Adana, Osmaniye and Gaziantep.
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/year, the steelmaker says.
UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK government’s export credit agency, has underwritten €781 million ($847m) of financing to support construction of the 286km railway.
“This is the start of what we expect to be a new unique partnership between British Steel, UKEF and international contractors,” British Steel commercial director – rail Craig Harvey says in a note sent to Kallanish. “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. Looking forward, we are very excited about what this will achieve.”
The first shipments of rail will be transported from British Steel to Turkey in the second quarter. It is manufactured in Scunthorpe and is 60E1 in grade R260, each at 36 metres in length.
Adam Smith Poland
