Why Steel Dynamics is making extra-long, 240-foot railroad beams

A fast-growing Northern Indiana steelmaker has begun making railroad beams three times longer than normal, the Indianapolis Star reports. The longer rails require fewer welds at installation and foster quicker safety inspections, both in an effort to cut expenses and increase railroad durability for the nation's train industry.

Fort Wayne-based Steel
Dynamics in the past five years spent upward of $275 million to upgrade its
plant in Columbia City, Ind., for manufacturing the longer rails. The
600-worker plant formerly made steel beams for use in construction and in
bridges and other structures.

Making 240-foot rails
rather than 80-foot ones follows a handful of competitors overseas, but none
domestically. Durability is important
to the top train companies, which replace hundreds of thousands of tons of the
6-inch-wide, 7-inch-tall rails each year due to the wear and tear from
wheel-on-steel friction.

Steel Dynamics said in
its quarterly earnings report that it expects rail and welded-rail shipments to
"grow significantly" and has targeted the biggest names in rail for
its longer beams. The upgraded mill can produce up to two million tons of beams
for railroads per year.

David A. West, a
Somerville, Mass.-based expert in train tracks who has toured the Columbia City
plant, said its longer rails are "something different for this
industry."

On its face, it sounds like
a winner for rail companies, West said. "It’s entirely possible. The book
is still out, as they say."