Austrian steel and technology group Voestalpine has produced the world’s first rail made using hydrogen-reduced steel … The pioneering “green” rail, created as part of a pilot project, was developed at the company’s [Austrian] Donawitz site and is now installed at Linz Central Station [in Upper Austria, the country’s Northern state].

The rail consists of a combination of scrap metal and hydrogen-reduced pure iron—manufactured in voestalpine’s HYFOR pilot plant—melted in the company’s in-house research steelworks, TechMet. It was then processed into its final form at the adjacent rail rolling mill. As with all voestalpine rails, the product is highly durable and wear-resistant.

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Hydrogen-based steel production uses—ideally green—hydrogen from renewable energy sources to separate oxygen from iron ore. Unlike conventional methods, this process does not generate CO2, only water vapor as a byproduct. The hydrogen-reduced pure iron was produced in the HYFOR pilot plant, and the melt was carried out in the company’s proprietary research facility Technikum Metallurgie (TechMet), a one-of-a-kind miniature full-scale steelwork.

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