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Tata Steel has bagged an order to manufacture 60,000 tonnes of high-quality rail for a new high-speed line linking Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
The new railway will allow millions of pilgrims to cross the 276 miles (444km) between the two cities at speeds of 200mph (320kmh), the company said in a statement.
Gerard Glas, Rail Sector Head for Tata Steel, said, “Tata Steel is delighted to be contributing to this high-speed line, which will have to overcome some major challenges presented by building a high-capacity rail line across some of the most extreme terrain in the world.”
The steel for the project will be made at Tata Steel’s Scunthorpe plant before being rolled into rail in lengths of 25 metres both there and at the company’s plant in Hayange, Northern France. The work on producing the rail will start at the end of this year and is expected to continue throughout 2014.
