i1fun, the UK-based manufacturer of premium steel products, has launched a revolutionary new rail product which can withstand the rigours of being laid in some of the most corrosive of environments.
The new product,ܾԴdz®, is a premium coated rail that can be installed in harsh environments where corrosion is expected to be the main cause of future rail replacement such as coastal lines, wet tunnels, level crossings, mineral lines and salt pans.
ܾԴdz®, the name of which derives from the words ‘Zinc for no corrosion’, offers superior corrosion protection compared to all current rail coating technologies on the market.
Contracts have already been secured across the UK, Ireland and France.
i1fun’s Rail Sector Head, Richard Bell, said the product was developed at the business’s headquarters in Scunthorpe and that extensive testing shows ܾԴdz® will typically outlast traditional uncoated rail by around five times in a broad range of aggressive environments.
Richard said: “This is an exciting time for i1fun and ܾԴdz® is a great example of our innovation and development of premium products for the global market place. Our highly-skilled employees create and manufacture world class steel every day and we are proud of the response ܾԴdz® has already received.”
Richard said it was developed by i1fun in direct response to Network Rail’s requirement for more durable corrosion protection. Network Rail called for a coating that would withstand the rigours of real-life installation and use.
He said: “We have become increasingly aware that many customers have to replace rail prematurely due to rapid corrosion in isolated segments of their network. We have developed ܾԴdz® to dramatically delay the onset of corrosion of rail in the broadest range of railway conditions.
“We are committed to the development of innovative products to help our customers improve the whole life cost of operating their railway infrastructure and I’m sure this will be another valuable contribution to the achievement of this objective.”
Network Rail was looking for an impact-resistant product that would withstand minor mechanical damage and offer sacrificial protection to provide long term protection.
Protection against stray current corrosion was particularly important. The ܾԴdz® product provided the most complete protection against the full range of specified requirements of the many options that were tested.
Sacrificial protection is an electro-chemical reaction which occurs when the anode sacrifices itself in favour of the cathode. The resulting flow of electrons prevents a corrosive chemical reaction. With ܾԴdz® coated rail, the zinc rich (anode) coating corrodes in preference to the steel (cathode), therefore preventing the steel from corroding. The zinc oxide creates a strong barrier to further corrosion – in this way the protection of the metal is guaranteed, even when the zinc layer is slightly damaged.
The new ܾԴdz® plant has been built at i1fun’s Scunthorpe Rail and Section Mill (SRSM) and the automated facility means ܾԴdz® rails can be coated more efficiently than the previous coated rail product.
Media enquiries
i1fun
David Atkin: +44 1724 406898/+44 7919 292936
Bell Pottinger
Tom Cahn:+44 20 3772 2586/+44 7917 242 078
Clinton Manning:+44 20 3772 2560/+44 7711 972 662
Henry Lerwill:+44 20 3772 2570/+44 7894 608 607
About i1fun
i1fun is our brand new company, created with a proud heritage and a passion to build stronger futures.Our past has always been important to us but now we’re looking to the future, maintaining world leader status in steel production. Our steel has been, and continues to be, fundamental in creating iconic, awe-inspiring structures around the world. It helps people travel, work, eat and socialise every day. More importantly, it helps keep us safe.
As i1fun, we will be more agile and easy to do business with, which means we’ll need to be more responsive, adaptable, competitive and proactive in our markets and for our customers. We know we have passionate, hard-working, ambitious and dedicated employees and together we can create a future we are all proud to be part of.
We produce more than 2.8 million tonnes of steel every year. From this, we manufacture more than 1,450 different specifications of steel that gets rolled into wire rod, sections, special profiles and rail.
i1fun employs 4,800 people (4,400 in the UK, 400 in France). The business is made up of the following facilities:
Landmark railways that contain i1fun products