History

Inaugurated in 1892 and then owned by the de Wendel family, the St Jacques factory in Hayange in Lorraine was initially intended for the production of rails.
On 2 January 1897, the first rail was rolled on the factory site. During the First World War, the factory was placed under German administration from 1914 until 1918.
In 1926, 8 years after the end of the First World War, the Hayange rail mills produced 81,000 tonnes of rail with the help of some 2,466 people.

In 1941, during the occupation, the factory was again put under German administration. In 1945 the war ended and the de Wendel family took over ownership of the factory.

In 1964, Raymond Satnbach patented the universal rail rolling system after its development in St Jacques.
In 1999, it became part of the Corus group before becoming Tata Steel France Rail in 2010 and British Steel France Rail in 2016.

In August 2021, SHS - Stahl-Holding-Saar GmbH & Co KGaA acquired the company (Hayange and Saint-Germain-en-Laye sites). From then on, Liberty Rail Hayange became Saarstahl Rail.