OREANDA-NEWS. Kobe Steel, Ltd. announces that it has begun deliveries of aluminum extruded shapes to Hitachi, Ltd. for use in the railway car body for the Intercity Express Programme (IEP)1 in the United Kingdom. Kobe Steel has received an order to supply nearly the total amount necessary to build the fleet of trains.

Rolling stock for the IEP will total 866 cars. A portion of each car will be manufactured by Hitachi at its Kasado Works in Japan as part of a comprehensive contract received by Hitachi Rail Europe Ltd.2 Kobe Steel is supplying material in the form of aluminum extruded shapes.

Kobe Steel's aluminum extrusions are manufactured at the company's Chofu Works in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, where a variety of aluminum shapes can be made. For railway rolling stock, the Chofu Works has one of Japan's largest extrusion presses and a heat treatment furnace that can handle pieces up to 25 meters long. As thin-walled shapes of 25 meters in length can be manufactured, Kobe Steel's aluminum extrusions have been used in nearly all the rolling stock of the JR Shinkansen bullet trains, from the 300 series (1992-2012), to the latest models.

Contributing to lighter rolling stock, aluminum extruded shapes will continue to be used in railway cars. In cooperation with rolling stock manufacturers, Kobe Steel is developing aluminum extruded shapes that can improve the safety and quietness of rolling stock as well as contribute to making lighter and more efficient trains.