The Russian mining and steel producer Evraz Group has announced the start of a $440 million rail mill reconstruction at its Siberia-located Novokuznetsk Iron and Steel Plant (NKMK), which will allow it to produce 25-meter and 100-meter high-speed rails.
As a result of the reconstruction, which will be finished in 2012, NKMK's rail mill capacity will reach approximately one million mt of high-speed rails, including 450,000 mt of 100-meter rails, which currently are not produced in Russia. The main buyer of NKMK's longer rails is expected to be Russian Railways (RZhD).
Accordingly, the reconstruction includes the installation of a new automatic rail rolling mill, as well as rail hardening and straightening equipment which will enable a significant improvement in rail quality, meeting global requirements for surface and latent defects and straightness.