British Steel’s Turkish Deal: What 36,000 Tonnes of Rail Actually Means for Scunthorpe

Thirty-six thousand tonnes of rail doesn’t sound like an everyday number — but for British Steel and the workers at its Scunthorpe plant, it represents something very specific and very welcome: jobs, overnight shifts, and a contract worth tens of millions of pounds. The agreement with ERG International Group to supply rail for Turkey’s new Ankara–İzmir high-speed railway is one of the most significant commercial developments at the plant in recent years.
To put the scale in context, 36,000 tonnes of rail is enough to run a significant stretch of the 599km Ankara–İzmir line — a flagship Turkish infrastructure project designed to slash travel times while cutting carbon emissions. Delivering that quantity of high-specification rail requires sustained, intensive production, which is why the contract has enabled a return to round-the-clock manufacturing at Scunthorpe for the first time since before 2015.
Twenty-three new roles have been created as a direct consequence of the order, providing both employment and a boost to local confidence in the plant’s future. UK Export Finance backed the deal, helping British Steel navigate the international financial landscape and compete against rivals who often benefit from lower energy costs and government subsidies.
Industry body UK Steel praised the deal, highlighting rail’s status as a high-value, technically demanding product that plays a central role in British Steel’s commercial strategy. Its director general called the contract “essential to underpinning a sustainable turnaround” while acknowledging that structural policy reforms are equally needed.
What 36,000 tonnes of rail does not do, however, is solve the financial crisis at British Steel. The plant is still losing £1.2 million a day, and the government has spent £359 million since taking emergency control. The Turkish deal is significant, meaningful, and genuinely positive — but British Steel needs a comprehensive strategy, not just a string of contracts, to secure its long-term future.