Tata Steel announced that it has received a contract to supply high quality rail for a new track that runs between two French cities: Bordeaux and Tours.
Based on the contract, the company will deliver 84,000 t of rail for the high-speed South-Europe-Atlantique line, which is 302 km long.
The manufacture of steel used in the rail will be carried out in Scunthorpe, UK. Then, they are rolled into rail lines at Tata Steel’s rolling mill in Hayange, France. Tata Steel will also supply crossings and switches to COSEA, a construction consortium that operates the French rail project. The total worth of the steel delivered for the project will be approximately € 80 million.
The South-Europe-Atlantique track will link south-western France with rail lines from northern Europe, including Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and London, Paris. The project also includes construction of 7 tunnels and 19 viaducts. Once the project is completed, trains running at 300km per hour will decrease the travelling time between Paris and Bordeaux to two hours and five minutes.
Tata Steel will be delivering the rails, each one measuring 180 m long. These rails minimize maintenance costs and provide a smoother journey for passengers. Tata Steel has made €35 million investment for expanding its Hayange rolling mill and the company is now increasing the production of a 108 m rail at its expanded plant.