AcrelorMittal Poland (AMP) has launched its heavy section mill at Dabrowa Gornicza plant, after a PLN 140m (€33.6 million) modernisation which allows it to produce rails for high-speed railways. The country’s deputy prime minister, Janusz Piechocinski, who formally opened the installation yesterday, said that it "has a chance to strengthen the Polish industry in Europe".

　　Thanks to the investment the length of the rails offered by AMP increased to 120 metres from 30m. The line, installed at the existing heavy sections mill, has a design capacity of 400,000 metric tons/year.

　　"Production of long rails is a project of significant strategic importance for us, considering the plans for rail investment in many countries, including Poland,” said Manfred Van Vlierberghe, CEO of AMP. The project will contribute to the modernization of Polish railway infrastructure, the company added.

　　In the last three years Poland has been modernising some 1,000 kilometres of railways per year, spending last year a record PLN 5.3 billion. Another 1,500km leg is planned to be upgraded this year and the following years should also see steady investment in the country’s ailing railway network. After 2020 the country intends to return the postponed construction of 470km of high speed railway from scratch, so called “Y” railway connecting Warsaw with Poznan and Wroclaw.

　　Apart from the rail mill, other investments undertaken by AMP last year included repair at both furnaces in Dabrowa Górnicza and building the sheet piles service centre, as reported.