Around seven months after commencement of production and barely three months after the official opening, voestalpine confirms success of its new rail rolling mill in Leoben/Donawitz, Styria.
Around seven months after commencement of production and barely three months after the official opening, voestalpine confirms success of its new rail rolling mill in Leoben/Donawitz, Styria. “Both the production volumes, which have outstripped even our own high expectations, and the demanding product mix show that our new investment has been a full success,” says Hans Pfeiler, Speaker of the Managing Board of voestalpine Schienen GmbH. Over 210,000 metric tons of rails and 20,000 metric tons of special billets have already been produced in the new plant since the start of production at the end of January—a much higher volume than ever before in the same period of time.
The highest-quality product segment was responsible for the majority of the rails produced; ultra long rails with a length of 120 metres and head-hardened premium rail steel grades (HSH®) each accounted for a share of more than 50%.
“We have already re-introduced 39 rail sections to our very broad product range which includes around 100 different rail sections. This is an important factor in the company’s flexibility as a full scope supplier which is much appreciated by our customers,” said Pfeiler. At least one new section is re-introduced to the production programme each week. voestalpine will continue to increase production rapidly in order to meet the demand for its high-performance rails.
voestalpine Schienen GmbH’s new rail rolling mill involved an investment volume of around
EUR 66 million and is currently the world’s most up-to-date centre for rail production. Over the past 15 years more than EUR 200 million have been invested in the expansion and modernisation of rail production at the voestalpine site in Leoben/Donawitz
voestalpine is a globally active group with a number of specialized and flexible companies that produce, process and further develop high-quality steel products. The Group is represented by 360 production and sales companies in more than 60 countries. With its highest quality flat steel products, voestalpine is one of Europe's leading partners to the automotive, white goods and energy industries. Furthermore, voestalpine is the world market leader in turnout technology, tool steel and special sections, as well as number one in Europe in the production of rails. The voestalpine Group generated revenues of EUR 8.55 billion in the business year 2009/10 and employs around 41,000 staff throughout the world.