Rail
The rail system is an essential part of Rio Tinto Iron Ore's integrated production process and directly affects the company's capacity to blend ore to meet customer specifications.
Key Data
| Employees | 595 |
|---|---|
| Location | Rail Control is located in Dampier |
| Operation | Services 11 mines via a mainline system of approximately 1300 kilometres of track. |
| Working arrangements | Residential |
| Haul capacity | About 200 million tonnes of ore per annum. |
| Train Profile | Each train is operated by a single driver, and comprises more than 230 ore cars, each ore car with a load capacity of over 100 tonnes. A fully loaded train weighs approximately 29,500 tonnes and is about 2.4 kilometres in length. |
| Cycle time | Average cycle time is about 33 hours; there is a train movement almost every 25 minutes along the line. |
| First year of operation | 1966 |
| Ownership | Hamersley Iron and Robe River; managed by Pilbara Iron. |
| Assets |
Locomotives: Ore cars: |
Latest media releases
- 23 September 2008
Rio Tinto approves US$247 million investment to upgrade Pilbara mining town - 18 September 2008
Rio Tinto and GE combine 'Mine of the Future™' and 'ecomagination' - 16 September 2008
Cape Lambert back to full capacity