2. Current situation for strip trains

2.1 Distribution of belt trains by world region

The Plantfacts database, maintained by the Steel Institute VDEh in Germany, records the main characteristics of steel plants worldwide [23] . According to this database, there are a total of 216 hot strip production facilities worldwide. Representing a total capacity of 462 million tonnes, the average capacity of these trains would thus be 2.13 million tonnes per year. This figure includes classic continuous-train installations, as described below, but also reversible hot strip trains, such as the smaller-capacity Steckel trains. Moreover, no distinction is made between trains for the production of carbon steels and those for special steels or stainless steels....