HARRISBURG, Pa., April 16, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Worldwide industrial services and products company Harsco Corporation (NYSE:HSC) announced today that its Harsco Track Technologies (HTT) division is following on to its previously announced sale of rail grinder machines to the U.K. with a new three-year agreement valued at approximately $50 million to operate and maintain the equipment on behalf of Network Rail, the engineering company formed to revitalize Britain's railways.
The award marks HTT's first strategic undertaking of track maintenance operating services outside the division's traditional North American and Australian markets. HTT has also been successfully expanding its international equipment presence with several major equipment orders from China, Continental Europe and elsewhere.
HTT will operate the grinders under its recently approved U.K. Railway Safety Case, itself a significant milestone in the division's expanding international role. Harsco Track Technologies is believed to be the first track maintenance company to have successfully initiated and fulfilled the U.K.'s stringent Railway Safety Case requirements without assuming or acquiring a pre-existing Case. Safety Case acceptance is required before any railway company can commence U.K. infrastructure or train operating services.
HTT will also manage an operations center in Dartford, Kent, about 17 miles outside London at the convergence of three branches of the British railway network, where the division will coordinate the daily activities of the rail grinding machines. Most of Network Rail's track maintenance work is done at night to minimize disruption to services.
Announcing the new agreement, Harsco Track Technologies President Robert Newman said, "We look forward to this significant opportunity to support Network Rail in its strategies to further contain Britain's railway infrastructure maintenance costs by significantly extending the life of its rails." Rail grinding is regarded as one of the most effective maintenance practices for prolonging rail life and reducing the potential for rail failures. Harsco Track Technologies is one of the industry's leading specialists in rail grinding technologies, having developed and produced over 50 such systems to date for major worldwide railroads and transit systems.
Harsco Corporation is a $2.1 billion, diversified industrial services and engineered products company employing approximately 17,500 people in more than 40 countries of operation. Harsco's market-leading businesses provide mill services, access services, gas and fluid control products, and other infrastructure products and services to customers worldwide. Additional information about Harsco, including its Harsco Track Technologies division, can be found at: (www.harsco.com).
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