Heavy haul news – Page 4
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NewsRio Tinto places ECP braking order
AUSTRALIA: Wabtec is to supply Rio Tinto with electronically controlled pneumatic braking equipment for an initial six heavy haul locomotives and 3 600 iron ore wagons under a US$21m contract announced on May 9. The equipment is to be delivered in 2011-12 for retrofitting to wagons which currently have Wabtec's ...
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NewsFirst contract placed under heavy haul signalling agreement
AUSTRALIA: Rio Tinto Iron Ore has placed its first A$96m firm order for signalling and communications equipment under a five-year framework agreement with Ansaldo STS, the signalling supplier announced on April 7. Ansaldo STS anticipates that the total value of works under the five-year framework agreed in November 2010 will ...
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NewsHeavy haul expansion plan approved
AUSTRALIA: Investment of US$4·6bn in heavy haul rail and port facilities is included in a US$8·4bn expansion plan which has been approved by Fortescue Metals Group. The 30-month project will see FMG’s Pilbara ore production capacity increased from 55 to 155 million tonnes/year. Rail works include doubling 120 km ...
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NewsHigh temperature locomotives ordered from EMD
MAURITANIA: Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière has awarded Electro-Motive Diesel a contract to supply six SD70ACS heavy haul diesel locomotives with AC traction motors, the manufacturer announced on October 20. To be delivered from late 2011 they will allow the operation of heavier mineral trains through the ...
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NewsKarara ore railway construction contract
AUSTRALIA: Macmahon has been awarded a A$86m contract for civil works and tracklaying on an 85 km railway forming part of the Karara Iron Ore Project in Western Australia. Starting from Karara, 500 km northeast of Perth, the new line will run to Tilley Siding near Morawa where it will ...
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NewsPilbara iron ore line approved
AUSTRALIA: Plans to build another 300 km rail link to serve the Pilbara iron ore mining region in Western Australia were approved by the state government on June 24. Premier Colin Barnett said the signing of an agreement with Roy Hill Infrastructure Pty Ltd was ‘a major step forward for ...
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NewsPilbara heavy haul extension opens
AUSTRALIA: The first 163-wagon iron ore train left the Mesa A/Warramboo mine in the Pilbara on February 19, using a 49 km extension of the Deepdale heavy haul line from Pannawonica to reach the port at Cape Lambert. The train was driven by Shane Edwards, a local Aboriginal man, as ...
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NewsPilbara miners to combine heavy haul assets
AUSTRALIA: Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have signed a non-binding agreement to combine their mining, heavy haul rail, port and other iron ore production assets in Western Australia. The June 5 agreement sets out plans to establish an equally-owned joint venture to manage the assets, with 'substantial synergies' expected ...
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NewsRio Tinto postpones driverless plan
AUSTRALIA: Rio Tinto Iron Ore announced on January 13 that it was postponing work on its Pilbara automated train operations programme. The easing of market growth caused by the economic slowdown has reduced the urgency of the A$557m project, which was designed to increase the efficiency of the ...
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NewsHeavy haul automation contract placed
AUSTRALIA: Ansaldo STS announced on December 4 that it had been awarded a €103m contract to provide automation technology for the driverless operation of Rio Tinto's Hamersley and Robe River heavy haul railway in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The automation project will be completed by 2012, enabling ...
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NewsPilbara lines declared open access
AUSTRALIA: The long-running battle to bring open access to the heavy-haul iron ore railways in Western Australia reached another milestone on October 27, when Commonwealth Treasurer Wayne Swan 'declared' BHP Billiton's Goldsworthy railway and Rio Tinto's Robe River and Hamersley lines under the National Access Regime within the Trade Practices ...
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NewsPilbara open access from November 20
AUSTRALIA: Three heavy haul iron ore railways in West Australia are to be 'declared' permitting third parties to negotiate open access with effect from November 19, Commonwealth Treasurer Wayne Swan announced on October 27. Swan will 'declare' BHP Billiton's Goldsworthy railway and Rio Tinto's Robe River and Hamersley lines ...
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NewsPilbara access battle continues
AUSTRALIA: Fortescue Metals is a step closer to gaining access to the Pilbara railway networks owned by rival mining groups BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. In mid-June the National Competition Council recommended that the Robe River, Hamersley and Goldsworthy rail lines should be opened up, in order to boost competition ...
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NewsFortescue opens the world's heaviest haul railway
AUSTRALIA: A remarkable iron ore railway has been built across the Pilbara region in record time. John Kirk reports.
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NewsRio Tinto to go driverless
AUSTRALIA: Driverless trains will be operating on Rio Tinto's Pilbara heavy haul iron ore railway in Western Australia within five years, the mining company announced on June 16. The first automation trials began in early 2007, initially using segregated tracks at 7 Mile Yard. Following the successful completion of 126 ...
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Fortescue carries first ore load
AUSTRALIA: On April 6 Fortescue Metals transported its first load of iron ore mined at Cloudbreak in the Pilbara to Herb Elliott Port. The initial shipment was taken by lorry from the opencast mine to the Hunter Siding open access facility of Fortescue subsidiary The Pilbara Infrastructure Pty. It was ...
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WestNet plans West Australia iron ore network
WHILE NOT on the same scale as iron ore production in the Pilbara, high prices are driving the development of new mines in the Mid West region of Western Australia. WestNet Rail, the Babcock & Brown subsidiary that leases and manages Western Australia's 5 100 km of 1 067 mm ...
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ECP brakes for Pilbara
Following news that electronically-controlled pneumatic brakes are to be tested in revenue service by Norfolk Southern and BNSF (RG 5.07 p248), New York Air Brake has won a contract to supply similar equipment to Fortescue Metals Group in Australia. The ECP brakes are to be deployed on Fortescue's planned iron ...
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Fortescue goes its own way
On February 8 construction work commenced on another iron ore line into the Chichester Ranges from Port Hedland, Western Australia. Fortescue Metals Group is building the 260 km line to link its port facilities at Anderson Point to its Pilbara mines at a total cost of around A$3?5bn. The decision ...
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Ore lines face open access threat
WITH THEIR own discrete networks of heavy-haul iron ore lines in Western Australia, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have expressed deep concern over a Federal Court ruling on December 18 that could see the opening up of their railways for use by rival mining companies. Fortescue Metals Group had sought ...