Hebei Province-based Chinese steel producer Hebei Iron and Steel Group (HBIS) has announced that its subsidiary Handan Iron and Steel Co. (Hansteel) has successfully produced 56 heavy rails with length of 100 meters, becoming the fifth steelmaker in China to produce heavy rails following Liaoning-based Anshan Iron and Steel Group Co. (Ansteel), Inner Mongolia-based Baotou Iron and Steel Co. (Baogang Group), Sichuan-based Panzhihua Iron and Steel Co. (Pangang Group) and Hubei-based Chinese steelmaker Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Corp. (WISCO).
The 100 meter- long heavy rails will be used in heavy haulage railway and passenger railway lines for train speeds of up to 350 kilometers per hour. Hansteel has a heavy rail production capacity of 1.38 million mt per year. Hansteel has signed a contract with Chinese Railway Corporation for the supply of 4,800 mt of heavy rails.