Russian steel producer Mechel has announced that its subsidiary Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant OAO (CMP) has signed a contract with Italian-based plantmaker Danieli for the supply of technology and equipment for the construction of a rail and structural steel mill at CMP.
The new mill will have a production capacity of over one million mt per year and will produce high quality railroad rails up to 100 meters in length using advanced technologies for steel rolling, hardening, straightening, finishing, and rail quality control. Moreover, the mill will be capable of producing structural shapes of a wide range of sizes and grades.
The mill's capabilities will enable low cost production of category "V" (superior quality) rails and a wide range of other products with steady geometric parameters, and lower metal consumption due to the precision and thermo strengthening of profiles.
Mechel Management OOO CEO Vladimir Polin commented, "Once the mill is commissioned, which we expect in 2010, Mechel will become the main manufacturer of long rails in Russia. We expect that long rails produced at CMP will excel any world analogues in a number of necessary characteristics that are determined by the climate conditions of rail exploitation in Russia."
Currently, Mechel supplies about 400,000 mt of rails per year to the Russian market.