voestalpine has also recently won attractive orders in Asia and Europe. The Group will deliver 21,000 tons of heat-treated premium rails as well as turnout and signaling technology for the Metro in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from the start of 2015 onwards. This continues the pattern of dynamic business in the region, following pre-projects supplying 100,000 tons of premium quality rails. Worldwide, Austrian know-how is also greatly in demand in the high-speed sector (up to 380 km/h) and heavy haul freight traffic (up to 40 tons axle load), with projects currently underway to extend the line between Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, and the North-South Magistrale. In China the voestalpine Group holds around 30 percent of the local turnouts market after establishing a joint venture with a local partner in the high-speed sector. China plans to add around 10,000 km to its high-speed rail network by 2020. “Since setting up the company in 2007, voestalpine has won contracts for almost 1,000 high speed turnouts,” says Kainersdorfer. Large volume orders have also been booked in India: “voestalpine has already supplied more than 65,000 tons and over 1,000 km of heat-treated, high performance rails for no fewer than six metro systems in India,” says the Head of the Metal Engineering Division with delight. Further modernizations and extensions are planned in France, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Turkey. “Order levels are very good for the next 12 to 24 months. We are harnessing the global upswing in the railway sector and intensively following Group strategy of using high-tech products in this sector to internationalize further,” explains Kainersdorfer.
By using the latest technologies, voestalpine has a clear competitive advantage when it comes to producing high-quality products for track systems. This will both secure and extend the Group’s global market leadership position in the special rails and turnout technology sectors over the long term. voestalpine is more than ready to face constantly changing and increasingly demanding customer requirements: in addition to its state-of-the-art production processes and years of experience, this pioneering position is secured by focusing on research and development. The Group has almost 800 employees working in R&D worldwide, and has secured around 3,500 patents.