The line owner SETRAG wants to renew 260 km in the medium term. We were awarded the contract for the first 6,000 t delivered from Donawitz to Gabon.
Helmut Strouhal, Vice President Customer Management, at voestalpine Rail Technology.
The rails had reached the end of their service life,
Stefan Ziegerhofer, Customer Solutions and Product Management, summarizes the inspection.
The country's only rail line connects Franceville in the interior with the coastal town of Libreville to transport manganese ore mined at the COMILOG mine to the coast.
Team effort by the experts. In addition to Helmut Strouhal, Stefan Ziegerhofer, Pierre Porgroult, CSO, and Isidro Oliva, Technical Director, from voestalpine Railway Systems France were also on site and held discussions to offer the customer the best solution.
Logistical masterpiece. Unloading the rails was still to become a challenge. Necessary equipment such as rail clamps and spreader-bars for unloading had to be supplied without further ado. An intensive transfer of knowledge to the local workers was also necessary so that the rails could be manipulated without causing damage.
Together, we are already negotiating the follow-up order for the next section, naturally including the overall concept for switches, signaling technology, and logistics expertise. There are already positive developments to report from the rail sector: the customer has ordered a further 7,500 tons of head-hardened rails. The 60 m length now ordered requires new logistics solutions, which our colleagues in Gabon are currently discussing with the customer.