British Steel has secured a £500 million contract to supply track to Network Rail over the next five years, reinforcing its strategic role in the UK’s domestic infrastructure supply chain. The deal will see the Scunthorpe-based firm continue to supply around 80% of Network Rail’s steel rail requirements.
The contract, which begins on 1 July, is a critical development for the UK’s remaining virgin steel production facility. It guarantees long-term work for British Steel’s Scunthorpe site, home to 2,700 workers and the last operational blast furnaces of their kind in the country.
This follows the UK government’s recent intervention to prevent the site’s closure, after relations broke down with parent company Jingye over concerns that the Chinese owner planned to shutter the blast furnaces. Shutting them down would have eliminated the UK’s capacity to produce virgin steel, raising significant concerns about national security and industrial resilience.
The agreement also comes as the government signals a renewed commitment to strengthening domestic manufacturing through major infrastructure procurement. While British Steel remains in a precarious position, with partial public control but no final decision on nationalisation, the Network Rail deal is seen as a stabilising measure ahead of further industrial strategy announcements later this week.
