Austria-based plantmaker Siemens Metals Technologies has announced that it will supply a new facility for the inline thermal treatment of heavy-duty rails for the Chinese steel producer Baotou Iron and Steel Co. (Baogang Group). The new facility will be installed in one of the company's two long product rolling mills in Baotou, Inner Mongolia.
The new facility will enable rails to be produced with improved resistance to contact fatigue and wear. The new inline system will also be able to optimize the rail product performances according to the different grades of steel. The new system will be installed in a rail rolling line which has a 400,000 tons yearly capacity and rolls various sizes and shapes of rail. Baogang's long product rolling capacity stands at 2.1 million mt per year.
The new facility, scheduled to be commissioned at the beginning of 2014, marks the world's first application of an advanced technology for rail hardening.