COSEA, the civil engineering consortium responsible for building the 302km Sud-Europ Atlantique (SEA) high-speed line in southwest France, has awarded a Euros 80m contract to Tata Steel to supply 84,000 tonnes of rail together with switches and crossings for the new railway. The steel will be produced at Tata Steel's mill in Scunthorpe, Britain, prior to being rolled at its mill in Hayange, France. Delivery will start in 2014.
COSEA, the civil engineering consortium responsible for building the 302km Sud-Europ Atlantique (SEA) high-speed line in southwest France, has awarded a Euros 80m contract to Tata Steel to supply 84,000 tonnes of rail together with switches and crossings for the new railway. The steel will be produced at Tata Steel's mill in Scunthorpe, Britain, prior to being rolled at its mill in Hayange, France. Delivery will start in 2014.
"We will be supplying rails each measuring 108m," says Mr Gérard Glas, head of Tata Steel´s Rail Sector. "These longer rails give passengers a smoother ride and reduce maintenance costs. This order is also an endorsement of our strategy to invest in premium steel products."
Tata Steel is currently ramping up production at Hayange following completion of a Euros 35m upgrade to enable the plant to produce 108m rails. It can already produce such rails in Scunthorpe.
SEA will extend the existing Paris - Tours TGV Atlantique line south to Poitiers and Bordeaux and is due to open in 2016. Construction of the 19 viaducts and seven tunnels on the line is due to start in the first half of next year.
