MULTI-MILLION POUND NATIONAL STEEL CONTRACTS SIGNED

Thursday 15 Dec 2005

MULTI-MILLION POUND NATIONAL STEEL CONTRACTS SIGNED

Region & Route:: National

Multi-million pound, long-term steel contracts were finalised by Network Rail today. The contracts will deliver over 100,000 tonnes of high quality rail a year and will become the cornerstone of Network Rail’s rail renewal programme in the years ahead and will play a part in delivering a better train service for passengers. The new contracts have been signed with two suppliers with a third in final negotiations:

Corus - worth around £40-50m in the first year of a seven year contract
VOESTALPINE - worth around £12-16m in the first year of a five year contract

Iain Coucher, deputy chief executive, said: “We’re carrying out a huge amount of work in the years ahead in a bid to rebuild Britain’s railways. This challenging task is well underway and these new steel contracts will ensure that we have a quality product that will help us to modernise our network.” The new contracts have tough quality targets with long warranty periods and clauses for rejection – the emphasis is very much on a high quality product at a competitive price.

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