British Steel to supply 36,000 tonnes of rail for Ankara–İzmir line

Under an eight-figure contract backed by UK Export Finance, British Steel is supplying 36,000 tonnes of grade 60E2 rail (36 m lengths) to ERG International Group, which is delivering the project for the Turkish government; deliveries take place during 2026, and British Steel had already supplied earlier project phases.

British Steel has won an order for 36,000 tonnes of grade 60E2 rail for the 599 km Ankara–İzmir high-speed line; the eight-figure contract (tens of millions of pounds) is backed by UK Export Finance, and the customer is ERG International Group, which is delivering the project for the Turkish government. The rail is due to be delivered during 2026; British Steel had already supplied rail to Turkey via ERG in earlier project phases and in 2025, and the order has led it to restart 24-hour rail production at Scunthorpe for the first time in over a decade, creating 23 jobs. The line is meant to cut the journey time between Ankara and İzmir by more than 10 hours and, once commissioned, will be operated by Turkish State Railways (LOK Report, 18 Feb 2026).