NSSMC Ready to Make World’s Longest Railway Rails
05/06/2014 - Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) has set up a system to manufacture and ship the world longest rails for railroads — 150-meter long rails — at Yawata Works in Japan.
Railway companies confront a challenge in the form of need to improve their rails to accommodate economic growth and resource developments. For example, inter-city passenger trains are increasing speed and decreasing weight, and freight trains are carrying heavier and longer loads consistently. This means that rails are used in a harsher environment than in the past.
NSSMC has been actively responding to this challenge by improving the quality of rail materials, and developing and commercializing more wear-resistant rails.
Rails for railways, after going through the process of hot rolling, are ordinarily cut into 25-meter standard lengths (or 50 meters as the longest to date) for shipment to users. Joints between rails are one cause of noise and vibrations affecting the comfort of the passengers, and are regarded as weak points in railway maintenance. To improve these problems, railway companies are welding those rail joints to make continuous welded rails.
The latest advance of this nature is completion of facilities at NSSMC’s Yawata Works enabling it to handle and ship out rails in 150-meter length — longest in the world, the company said. These long rails will help stabilize the rail track by reducing the number of welds and reducing rail maintenance for railway companies.
NSSMC has been supplying rails to railway companies all over the world since 1901 when the rail plant at Yawata Works began its operation. With its 113 years of accumulated experience in rail manufacturing, NSSMC will keep improving its technology and product development capacity and will contribute to a safer and more intensive railway transportation all over the world.
NSSMC has been actively responding to this challenge by improving the quality of rail materials, and developing and commercializing more wear-resistant rails.
Rails for railways, after going through the process of hot rolling, are ordinarily cut into 25-meter standard lengths (or 50 meters as the longest to date) for shipment to users. Joints between rails are one cause of noise and vibrations affecting the comfort of the passengers, and are regarded as weak points in railway maintenance. To improve these problems, railway companies are welding those rail joints to make continuous welded rails.
The latest advance of this nature is completion of facilities at NSSMC’s Yawata Works enabling it to handle and ship out rails in 150-meter length — longest in the world, the company said. These long rails will help stabilize the rail track by reducing the number of welds and reducing rail maintenance for railway companies.
NSSMC has been supplying rails to railway companies all over the world since 1901 when the rail plant at Yawata Works began its operation. With its 113 years of accumulated experience in rail manufacturing, NSSMC will keep improving its technology and product development capacity and will contribute to a safer and more intensive railway transportation all over the world.
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| 150-meter rails just after being rolled | 150-meter rails being handled |
