Chamber welcomes British Steel’s Turkish rail contract announcement

New rail track being manufactured at Scunthorpe’s British Steel plant.

THE Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce has welcomed British Steel’s announcement that it has won a multi-million pound contract to supply rail track to Turkey.

To fulfil the contract the plant will return to 24-7 working to make the 372 miles of rail track which will be used in the construction of a major high-speed electric railway.

British Steels said the contract with ERG International Group which is delivering the project on behalf of the Turkish government was a major achievement underlines the company’s ability to build the sustainable track systmes of the future.

“It also demonstrates the importance of British Steel to this country’s economy and Britain’s global trading partners. It is now the UK’s only manufacturer of railway track.”

The company said it was grateful for the support of the UK Government and UK Export Finance in sealing this contract and look forward to working in partnership to secure more orders for their world class products.

David Hooper, Managing Director of the Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce, said: “This announcement is fantastic news for British Steel, Scunthorpe, Northern Lincolnshire and indeed, the whole country.

“This is a huge contract which is so well deserved after going through such a challenging time recently.

“The Chamber has been a strong supporter and advocate for British Steel, and the need to retain our own virgin steelmaking capacity in the UK, having worked with and supported Scunthorpe MP Sir Nic Dakin to achieve those goals.

“It’s a tremendous boost for the firm to win this contract which has already resulted in new jobs being created.

“We would like to congratulate British Steel on securing this contract – and hope there are more good news stories like this to come.”