Liberty France, the French subsidiary of UK-based Liberty Steel Group, part of GFG Alliance, has announced that it has received approval from France-based railway company SNCF Réseau for the deployment of Europe’s first greensteel rails on the French rail network.
The approval marks the first step in achieving Liberty’s ambition for the recently-acquired Liberty Ascoval and Liberty Rail Hayange (previously France Rail Industry), which is to build a world class greensteel rail and rail services business with an international reach.
The rails are made from the greensteel blooms produced at Liberty Ascoval. The production of the blooms through the electric arc furnace reduces carbon emissions by 90 percent compared to the production of conventional rails. The goal is to make the rails completely carbon neutral by 2030, in line with the company’s mission to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
Liberty expects to start developing a sustainable greensteel rail market, initially in France and then across Europe.