British Steel, a leading European steel manufacturer with facilities across the UK and Europe, has signed a contract to supply 36,000 tons of rail for Turkey’s Ankara-İzmir high-speed railway, a deal expected to boost production at its Scunthorpe plant in northern England, British media reported.
The contract, described by the company as worth tens of millions of pounds, was agreed with the ERG International Group, the project’s main contractor. Deliveries are scheduled to continue through 2026, with the rail manufactured at British Steel’s Scunthorpe facility.
The Ankara-İzmir high-speed line, reported to span about 599 kilometers (372 miles), will link Turkey’s capital with the western port city of İzmir, a major commercial center. The project is intended to cut travel times between the two cities and expand rail capacity.
British Steel said the agreement will allow it to resume round-the-clock rail production at Scunthorpe for the first time in more than a decade and create about 23 new jobs at the site.
The deal is backed by UK Export Finance, the British government’s export credit agency, which provides loan guarantees and insurance to help British companies secure overseas contracts.
British Steel has faced financial pressure in recent years, with its Scunthorpe operations reported to be losing money. The company, owned by China’s Jingye Group since 2020, has been in discussions with the UK government about long-term modernization plans, including a shift from blast furnaces to electric arc furnace technology aimed at reducing carbon emissions.
The contract follows broader UK efforts to expand export opportunities in heavy industry. In 2023 the UK announced £680 million ($866 million at the time) in export credit support for the Mersin-Adana-Osmaniye-Gaziantep high-standard railway project in southern Turkey.
That 286-kilometer line, which includes tunnels, bridges and 21 stations, is designed to increase freight capacity and reduce travel times between key industrial cities. British Steel was among the suppliers for that project as well.
Turkey has invested heavily in rail infrastructure over the past decade, expanding its high-speed and electrified rail network as part of efforts to shift more transport from road to rail.