Network Rail has signed a £500 million contract with British Steel to supply more than 370,000 tonnes of rail over five years. The government said the deal had secured ‘thousands of British manufacturing jobs’ at Scunthorpe.

The Prime Minister intervened in April when there were fears that the Scunthorpe blast furnaces would be shut down by British Steel’s owners Jingye Group, and emergency legislation was passed to save the site.

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said: ‘This landmark contract truly transforms the outlook for British Steel and its dedicated workforce in Scunthorpe, building on its decades-long partnership with Network Rail to produce rail for Britain’s railways.

‘After taking urgent action to step in and save these historic blast furnaces from closure, we’ve now helped secure their long-term future by backing British Steel with meaningful government contracts, protecting thousands of skilled manufacturing jobs in the process.

‘This crucial investment in our railway infrastructure shows we are delivering on our Plan for Change commitment to raise living standards in every part of the UK and ensure economic growth is felt by working people in our proud industrial heartlands.’

A new centre for storing up to 25,000 tonnes of new lengths of rail was opened by British Steel last November. BS said the new £10 million ‘stocking hub’ would make sure that new rail was ready when it was needed by Network Rail.

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