Mechel OAO announced a new contract between its Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant OAO subsidiary and Danieli for the supply of technology and equipment to construct a rail and structural steel mill at the Chelyabinsk facility.
With an annual production capacity in excess of 1.0 million tonnes, the new rail and structural mill will be capable of producing structural shapes of a wide range of size and grade. Its basic product mix also will include narrow-, mid-, and wide-flange beams; parallel flange edge channels; equal and unequal angles; and special profiles, such as Larssen sheet pile, pit props, Z-sections.
For the installation, Danieli will supply a Danieli Centro Combustion walking beam reheating furnace with a 240-tonne/hour nominal capacity capable of heating blooms up to 300 x 360 mm and beam blanks up to 610 x 320 x 100 mm. The hot rolling area will be based on the re-use of an existing breakdown stand plus a new breakdown stand and a new PSP intermediate and finishing sizing line. The new PSP line will include a three-stand UFR pre-finishing reversing mill plus a single finishing-sizing stand.
After the finishing stand, a HiProfile gauge unit will enable in-line product size measurement and control, and a dedicated system, specifically designed by Danieli will facilitate in-line rail hardening. The PSP system will be based on stand core concept (SCC) super-heavy-duty universal rolling stands, featuring 1,200-mm diameter Universal rolls fitted with an automatic fast changing and guides package.
Dedicated facilities will be provided downstream of the cooling bed and the H/V straightener for beams/sections and for rail cold processing and finishing. The rail line will feature press-straightening, NDT inspection, sawing/drilling, final inspection and collecting. The beam line will include cold sawing and a double-head automatic magnetic stacker, bundling and collecting.
Mechel said the new rail and structural mill will primarily manufacture high-quality railroad rails up to 100 meters in length using state-of-the-art technologies for steel rolling, hardening, straightening, finishing, and rail quality control. Equipped with universal stands for high rolling precision, it will be capable of low-cost production of category "V" (superior quality) rails. It will also be capable of producing a wide range of other products with steady geometric section parameters and lower metal consumption due to the profiles' precision and thermo strengthening.
“We have been successfully working with Danieli for many years and strengthened our relationship with them in April 2008 with the signing of a long-term agreement,” commented Mechel Management OOO Chief Executive Officer Vladimir Polin. “Under the agreement, Danieli has developed special technologies to Mechel's technical specifications, enabling us to manufacture rails that meet all requirements of Russian and European railroaders.
Danieli will execute the project on a turnkey basis, including all necessary auxiliary plants and systems but excluding erection, building and civil works. All electricals and the advanced automation and process control system will be from Danieli Automation.
According to Danieli, the new mill’s advanced technologies will make it one of the most modern rolling mills of this type in Europe and in the whole world. Hot startup is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2010.
“The execution of the contract to supply equipment and technology for the rail and structural steel mill is a crucial stage in the project to manufacturing structural shapes and 100-meter railroad rails at Chelyabinsk,” continued Polin. “Once the mill is commissioned, which we expect in 2010, Mechel will become the main manufacturer of long rails in Russia. We expect that long rails produced at Chelyabinsk will outperform any world analogues in a number of necessary characteristics that are determined by the climate conditions of rail exploitation in Russia.
“In February 2008, Mechel OAO and Russian Railways (RZhD OAO) signed a long-term, mutually beneficial agreement to supply railroads in Russia with rolled products for transportation purposes manufactured at Mechel's subsidiaries,” added Polin. “Thus, already today, we have secured a guaranteed market for no less than 400,000 tonnes of our rails annually.”
Mechel, one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, unites producers of coal, iron ore, nickel, steel, rolled products, and hardware. Mechel products are marketed domestically and internationally.