British Steel announced on February 18, 2026, that it has signed a new high-speed rail contract worth tens of millions of pounds to supply rail for a big project in Turkey. UK Export Finance is backing the deal, which includes the delivery of 36,000 tons of British Steel’s 60E2 rail to ERG International Group. The rails, which are 36 meters long, will be delivered over the course of 2026.
British Steel will give the rails to ERG International Group, which is building the high-speed project for the Turkish government. Once the line is finished, the Turkish State Railways will run it. The material will be used to build a 599-kilometer line between Ankara and İzmir. This line is projected to greatly reduce carbon emissions by shortening the time it takes to travel between the Turkish capital and the port city.
The size of the high-speed rail contract has led to the establishment of 23 new jobs and the initiation of 24-7 rail production activities at Scunthorpe for the first time in more than ten years. The Ankara–İzmir high-speed rail line is meant to change transportation in Türkiye by lowering train travel time by more than 10 hours and giving passengers and freight operators a faster, more efficient, and less polluting option.
Craig Harvey, British Steel’s Commercial Director for Rail stated, “We have a distinguished record of supplying into high-speed rail projects across the world and have previously delivered rail into Türkiye through ERG for earlier phases of the Ankara to Izmir line.”
He also said, “This contract has been the catalyst to us starting 24-7 rail manufacturing operations in Scunthorpe. We are also optimistic we can supply other steel products into this project and are working with ERG to support its future needs.”
Mohamed Ibrahim, Chief Commercial Officer of ERG International UK said, “This contract not only strengthens our technical delivery, but also reinforces the strategic cooperation between ERG, British Steel, UKEF and DBT across major international infrastructure projects.”
