Where long rails are manufactured

We will now discover, step by ste, the machining of special steels which made Lucchini a global player. This happens in Piombino, where unique rails are produced, thanks to the most modern rolling technologies available.

Buildings higher than one-hundred meters are called skyscrapers, a soccer field longer than one-hundred met ers is suitable for international competitions. This allows us to imagine the complexity of manufacturing and handling single-body rail up to 108 met ers long.

At Lucchini Piombino mill that is exactly what we do. Since the end of 1908, rails and railway structures - adopted by the Italian Railways and used for building the entire Italian network - are manufactured.

The railway production starts with raw materials arriving by ship at the company’s private wharf and continues with their transformation into pig iron by a 6,600 metric ton/day blast furnace. After being decarbonated transformed into steel, squared or rectangular blooms are manufactured to be rolled into rail.

Piombino uses the most modern technologies available: think of high-definition TV camera systems and laser sources which, during rolling, allow detecting and constantly monitoring the profile dimension and other process data, such as product temperature, rolling speed, etc. When exiting the rolling mill, after being tempered on one end, the rails are placed on a cooling plate, about 120 metre long, by 52 independent lifting trolleys. As for product quality control requirements, rails manufactured in Piombino are examined by a ‘non-destructive test’ system”. After these tests, rails are cut, measured and drilled as required in its dedicated processing facility.

After cold cutting and straightness check, rails are transferred onto collection and inspection beds. Now, an automatic handling system rotates the rails on four sides to visually inspect the surfaces, then they are moved to the service centre to be properly stored.

Rails are now ready to be shipped by both rail and sea, using the plant’s inner harbour. This advantage allows Lucchini to operate with maximum flexibility, and accommodate special deliveries, ensuring di spatch reliability and quality service to customers.