Austrian steelmaker voestalpine says that almost 15% of its revenue is generated by its activities in the railway and turnout technology sector. The group has seen its business in this area grow recently, especially in the North American market, the company tells Kallanish.

Major orders have recently been received from North America, Saudi Arabia, India and China the company says. Increased global investment is currently going into extending railway structure, voestalpine adds, especially in the USA and Canada.

The group’s North American operation, voestalpine Nortrak generates €1 billion ($1.12bn) of the €2.8bn that the steelmaker currently generates in the railway sector, it confirms. This should grow to €3bn by 2020 with projects to extend transit networks currently underway in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Toronto.

Turnout technology, relating to the supply of railroad switches (US) or railway points systems (UK), also features largely in voestalpine’s railway portfolio. In China the group has around 30% of the local turnouts market after establishing a joint venture with a local partner, voestalpine says.

The business continues to develop with 21,000 tons of heat-treated rail and turnout and signalling technology due to be delivered to the Riyadh, Saudi Arabia metro in 2015. Europe is busy also, with further [railway] modernisations and extensions 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 internationalise further,” says Franz Kainersdorfer, head of voestalpine’s Metals Engineering division.