Novokuznetsk Iron and Steel Plant (NKMK), a subsidiary of the Russian mining and steel producer Evraz Group, has placed an order with Germany-based plant equipment supplier SMS Meer for a new 1.3 million mt capacity universal rail and section mill.
Accordingly, 950,000 mt of the mill's annual production will be rails, including 400,000 mt of 100 meter-long rails that can be used for high-speed rail tracks or heavy goods trains, while the rest will be beams, channels and round and square bars.
The order is a part of Evraz's rail production modernization program at NKMK, which will be carried out in several part-projects. For the hot rolling section, SMS Meer is to supply the rolling technology and the complete mechanical and electrical equipment and the automation system.
The mill is scheduled to be commissioned in October 2012.