HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 25, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Worldwide industrial services and products company Harsco Corporation (NYSE:HSC) announced today that its Harsco Track Technologies (HTT) division has secured new orders in China, Taiwan and Japan for railway switch and crossing rail grinders totaling close to $20 million.
The units, all scheduled for delivery in 2006, will serve major metropolitan transit system requirements for improved high speed track safety and noise reduction. Rail grinding has emerged as one of the railway industry's fastest-growing and most effective maintenance practices for extending rail life and reducing the potential for rail failures. The HTT units are designed to reprofile rail surfaces for proper wheel-to-rail contact, which reduces surface stresses and better controls the risk of surface-level fatigue cracks from spreading through the rail. Rail grinding also reduces track noise, a key factor for urban transit systems, while also reducing friction, which enables railways to reduce fuel consumption.
The latest orders continue HTT's successful expansion in the Asian market, where the division is currently delivering its largest single order ever, a $68 million multi-unit contract for the Chinese railway system. Within the past three years, HTT has seen its Asian order book increase by some five to six times over previous levels, while international equipment orders now account for more than half of HTT's growing sales overall. The division's increasing international scope earned it recognition last year as a World Trader of the Year by the South Carolina World Trade Center, in HTT's home state.
Harsco Corporation is a $2.5 billion diversified industrial services and engineered products company whose market-leading businesses provide mill services, access services, engineered products and services, and gas containment and control technologies to customers worldwide. The company employs approximately 18,500 people in more than 40 countries of operation. Harsco Track Technologies serves customers around the world as a primary specialist for railway track maintenance services and equipment used in the maintenance, renewal, and new construction of railway track. Additional information about Harsco and its Harsco Track Technologies division can be found at www.harsco.com.
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