Corus Rail's Castleton Works Gains The Latest Quality Management System Approval

01 Jan 2003

Corus Rail’s Castleton works, the leading supplier of long welded rail to the UK railway industry, has gained approval to the new quality management standard, BS EN ISO 9001-2000. 

Corus Rail is one of only 30% of the UK’s quality certified companies to have achieved this new standard, which monitors companies ongoing business processes and outcomes and is much more advanced than the previous standard, BS EN ISO 9002-1994.

It has taken the Castleton works just 10 months to review procedures and put in place all the new controls and measures required by the standard, a significant achievement which has been accomplished entirely by the internal management team at Corus, with guidance from Lloyds Register of Quality Assurance (LRQA). 

Jim Hepburn, General Manager at Castleton said, “We are extremely proud to have reached this standard. Where most other companies have accomplished this with the expertise and cost of external consultants dedicated to the project, we have achieved it quickly and with ease entirely through the commitment and hard work of the in-house team, which was led by Sean Gleeson.“

The standard was reached in parallel with the installation and commissioning of state-of-the-art welding facilities at the works in early 2002, in which the company invested £4.4 million. This investment and award of the new quality approval reinforces Corus Rail’s capabilities and commitment to the provision of first-class welding services to the UK railway industry.

Castleton joins Corus Rail’s Workington plant, which was the first Corus business to be approved to the standard earlier this year.