30,000-tonne megacontract for Iraq's rail network

ThyssenKrupp GfT Gleistechnik mbH has been awarded by the Iraq Ministry for Transport and Railway Companies a megacontract for 30,000 tonnes of rails needed in the general renewal of the nation's network. The double-digit million euro contract was won against notable competitors.

Initial talks about the realization were held in Baghdad in February this year. The 18-meter long rails, type UIC 60, will be made by TSTG Schienen Technik GmbH, Duisburg, Germany, and shipped from the port of Antwerp to Basra by the end of 2009.

"We have great trust in German products and, in ThyssenKrupp, we have found a reliable and highly competent partner whose word we can depend on at all times", commented Bangen Abdullah Hadrash Rekani, Deputy Minister of Transport in Iraq on the occasion of a recent visit by a delegation to Essen. Harald Bogedein, General Manager of ThyssenKrupp GfT Gleistechnik, adds: "This is the very first megaproject in Iraq involving German companies since the end of the war. We hope the contract will serve as a stable launch pad for an ongoing business relationship. We are presently holding exploratory talks."

The talks are being conducted in the context of Iraq's Infrastructure Reconstruction program: in the medium term the country needs about 180,000 rails, 2.4 million sleepers, and 550 switches.Products on a similar scale will be required for port construction work a subject on which ThyssenKrupp is presently examining business possibilities.