Network Rail has stockpiled a year’s worth of rails in case of British Steel disruption

Network Rail has built up a stockpile of rails to last as long as a year in case of disruption in the supply from British Steel’s Scunthorpe works.

The company, which manages Britain’s railway tracks, has been stockpiling rails over the past 12 months as British Steel started to contemplate the closure of its two blast furnaces. The rails are stored at depots around the country.

British Steel’s Chinese owner, Jingye, last month announced plans to close the blast furnaces, putting 2,700 jobs at risk and threatening the UK supply of long products such as rails and construction beams.

The UK government on Saturday stepped in to take control of the Scunthorpe factory with emergency legislation. It made the move, just short of nationalisation, because it was concerned that the UK would lose the ability to produce steel from iron ore in its last blast furnaces. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, has directed British Steel to buy the raw materials needed to keep running, after Jingye decided to end production.

Many of the products made at Scunthorpe are readily available from other European suppliers. However, more than 80% of Britain’s rails come from the Lincolnshire plant. The stockpile would give Network Rail about six months to seek an alternative seller if the Scunthorpe blast furnaces are switched off, because of lead times in receiving orders from other sources.

Network Rail started considering the stockpile after Jingye announced in late 2023 that it was looking at replacing the blast furnaces with much cleaner electric arc furnaces. British Steel opened a new facility in November in Scunthorpe that will be able to store 25,000 tonnes of rails.

Network Rail already has flexible contracts with Austria’s Voestalpine and Germany’s Saarstahl that could fill the gap in supply if British Steel were to shut its blast furnaces before electric versions are up and running. Installing new electric arc furnaces, which do not rely on polluting coal, could take several years.

British Steel has said electric arc furnaces are suitable to make rails and other long products produced in Scunthorpe, although the conditions in the furnace need to be tightly controlled to avoid impurities. Network Rail has previously tested rails made in an electric arc furnace by Saarstahl.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: “We do not expect the announcement to have any impact on the continued delivery of reliable rail services for passengers and freight users.

“We are continuing to work with government and our suppliers, and we have comprehensive contingency plans in place to ensure the continued supply of rail needed to fulfil our operational needs.”