The heavy-haul railways in the Pilbara are a series of

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

-owned railways in the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...

region in the north-west of the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. Their routes total .

History

In 1887, the Cossack Tram opened followed by the

Western Australian Government Railways Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the state owned operator of railways in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra respon ...

's (WAGR) Marble Bar Railway in 1911. However, these had closed by the 1950s. Following the

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government or the Western Australian Governmen ...

's opening up of the

region for mining in the 1960s, four companies began to mine and export

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

. The long distances from the mines to the sea ports mandated that railways be built as the most economical method to transport the ore. Unlike most of the railways operated by the

, built to narrow gauge, the Pilbara lines were built to standard gauge. Since Australian railway design standards of the time did not provide for heavy-haul railroads of the required capacity, standards set by the

Association of American Railroads The Association of American Railroads (AAR) is an industry trade group representing primarily the major freight Rail transport, railroads of North America (Canada, Mexico and the United States). Amtrak and some regional Commuter rail in North Am ...

were followed for track,

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, Railroad car#Freight cars, freight and Passenger railroad car, passenger cars (or coaches) ...

, and

loading gauge A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and k ...

(width and height of rail vehicles). The railways were built by a joint venture of Morrison-Knudsen, Mannix Contractors of Canada and McDonald Constructions of Australia. The first company to commence operations in June 1966 was Goldsworthy Mining, with a line from Mount Goldsworthy to Finucane Island. In August 1966, Hamersley Iron (a Rio Tinto company) opened a 298-kilometre line from Mount Tom Price to a new port at East Intercourse Island, near Dampier. This was extended shortly after by 100 kilometres to a second mine at Paraburdoo. In March 1969, the Mount Newman Mining joint venture began operating a 427-kilometre line from its Mount Whaleback mine to

Port Hedland A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inla ...

. The Cliffs Robe River Iron Associates joint venture opened a 162-kilometre line from Mount Enid to

Cape Lambert Cape Lambert is a port facility operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is located 40 kilometres north-east of Karratha.

, near Wickham, in July 1972. Since then, the iron ore trackage has been expanded as new mines have opened. With mergers and takeovers, there has been considerable consolidation of mine (and railroad trackage) ownership, particularly with

BHP BHP Group Limited, founded as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, is an Australian multinational mining and metals corporation. BHP was established in August 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. As of 2024, BHP was the world� ...

and Rio Tinto. On 21 June 2001, eight BHP Billiton

GE AC6000CW The AC6000CW is a diesel locomotive, diesel electric locomotive built between 1995 and 2001 by GE Transportation. It is among the world's most powerful single-engined diesel locomotives. The locomotive was designed for extremely high horsepower ...

s combined to set the world record for the longest and heaviest train; hauling a 682-car, 99,734 gross-tonne (82,000 tonnes of ore), 7.3 kilometre-long train. In April 2008,

Fortescue Metals Group Fortescue is a global metal mining company headquartered in Australia. Fortescue focused on iron ore mining under the name of Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) until July 2023. As of 2017, Fortescue is the fourth-largest iron ore producer in the ...

opened a line from Cloud Break mine to Port Hedland. In November 2015,

Hancock Prospecting Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd is an Australian-owned mining and agricultural business run by Executive Chairwoman Gina Rinehart and CEO Garry Korte. At various stages of its trading history, the company has been known as Hancock Prospecting Ltd ...

opened a 344 kilometre line from Roy Hill. In 2013,

Aurizon Aurizon Holdings Limited ( ) is a freight rail transport company in Australia, formerly named QR National Limited and branded QR National. In 2015, it was the world's largest rail transporter of coal from mine to port. Formerly a Queensland G ...

in conjunction with Brockman Mining and Atlas Iron under an Alliance Study Agreement, completed a study for a new independent iron ore railway in the Pilbara. , iron ore trackage in the Pilbara was 2,295 kilometres long. It accounted for 94% of all Australian iron ore exports. In 2020, Rio Tinto completed their "AutoHaul" project fully automating their 200+ engine fleet into a driverless configuration.

Railways

Fortescue railway The Fortescue railway, owned and operated by Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), is a private rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia built to carry iron ore. It opened in 2008.FMG. *

Goldsworthy railway The Goldsworthy railway, owned and operated by BHP, is a private rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia built to carry iron ore. It is one of two railway lines BHP operates in the Pilbara, the other being the Mount Newman rail ...

and

Mount Newman railway The Mount Newman railway, owned and operated by BHP, is a private rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia built to carry iron ore. It is one of two railway lines BHP operates in the Pilbara, the other being the Goldsworthy railw ...

— owned and operated by

. *

Hamersley & Robe River railway The Hamersley & Robe River railway, majority-owned by Rio Tinto, and operated by its subsidiary Pilbara Iron, is a private rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia for the purpose of carrying iron ore. The network is larger than ...

— majority-owned by Rio Tinto and operated by its subsidiary

Pilbara Iron Pilbara Iron manages assets for Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto (corporation), Rio Tinto, and Robe River Iron Associates, an unincorporated joint venture between Rio Tinto (53%) and Japanese steel companies Mitsui & Co, Mits ...

. * Roy Hill railway — owned and operated by

Rolling stock

Goldsworthy Mining operated locomotives to the same design as the WAGR H and K classes as well as one EMD JT42C (

GML10 GML10 is a diesel-electric locomotive built by Clyde Engineering, Kelso for the Goldsworthy Mining Company in 1990. It is currently operated by Qube. History GML10's design is a hybrid of two earlier classes of Clyde-built locomotives, its fr ...

, based on both the V/Line N and Australian National DL classes). The other three mining companies operate larger locomotives built to take advantage of the wide (American)

. Some were built under licence in Australia by

AE Goodwin AE Goodwin was an Australian heavy engineering firm, which produced railway locomotives and rolling stock, as well as roadmaking machinery at its factory in Auburn. History Founded in December 1935 by Arthur Elliott Goodwin, the company was ...

, Comeng, and rebuilt by A Goninan & Co and

Clyde Engineering Clyde Engineering was an Australian manufacturer of locomotives, rolling stock, and other industrial products. It was founded in September 1898 by a syndicate of Sydney businessmen buying the Granville factory of timber merchants Huds ...

, however most have been imported from the United States. Locomotives operated have included members of the following classes:

Alco The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer that operated from 1901 to 1969, initially specializing in the production of locomotives but later diversifying and fabricating at various time ...

* Alco C628 * Alco C630 * Alco C636 * Montreal Locomotive Works M636

GE Transportation GE Transportation is a division of Wabtec. It was known as GE Rail and owned by General Electric until sold to Wabtec on February 25, 2019. The organization manufactures equipment for the railroad, marine, mining, drilling and energy generatio ...

GE C36-7 The GE C36-7 is a 6-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by GE Transportation Systems, GE do Brazil and UGL Rail, A Goninan & Co between 1978 and 1989. It is an updated GE U36C with a 16-cylinder FDL engine, externally similar to the GE C30-7 bu ...

* GE CM39-8 *

GE Dash 9-44CW The GE C44-9W is a diesel-electric locomotive built by GE Transportation Systems of Erie, Pennsylvania. Keeping in tradition with GE's locomotive series nicknames beginning with the "Dash 7" of the 1970s, the C44-9W was dubbed the Dash 9 upo ...

* GE ES44ACi * GE ES44DCi

Electro-Motive Diesel Electro-Motive Diesel (abbreviated EMD) is a brand of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. Formerly a division of General Motors, EMD has been owned by Progress Rail since 2010. Electro-Motive ...

EMD SD50 The EMD SD50 is a diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division. It was introduced in May 1981 as part of EMD's "50 Series"; production ceased in January 1986. The SD50 was a transitional model between EMD's D ...

EMD SD40 The EMD SD40 is a model of 6-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by Electro-Motive Diesel, General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1966 and August 1972. 1,268 locomotives were built between 1966 and 1972. In 1972, an improved ver ...

R *

EMD SD40-2 The EMD SD40-2 is a AAR wheel arrangement#C-C, C-C diesel–electric locomotive built by Electro-Motive Diesel, EMD from 1972 to 1989. The SD40-2 was introduced in January 1972 as part of EMD's ''EMD Dash 2, Dash 2'' series, competing against t ...

* EMD SD70ACe/lc

Ports

The large-tonnage heavy-duty iron ore shipments require deep-water ports, which have to accommodate very high tidal ranges. *

** Mount Newman **

** Goldsworthy – now closed **

Shay Gap Shay Gap was an iron ore mining town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, north-northeast of Perth and east of Port Hedland. Shay Gap was formally gazetted as a town in 1972. Shay Gap was named after a pass of the same name in the hil ...

** Yarrie mine * Rio Tinto ** Dampier ** Hamersley **

Cape Lambert Cape Lambert is a port facility operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is located 40 kilometres north-east of Karratha.

** Robe River *

** Point Anderson near

** Christmas Creek mine

In development

* Anketell Port, near

Cape Lambert Cape Lambert is a port facility operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is located 40 kilometres north-east of Karratha.

Engineering heritage award

The heavy haul railways received an Engineering Heritage International Marker from

Engineers Australia Engineers Australia (EA), known formally as the Institution of Engineers, Australia, is an Australian professional body and Non-profit organization, not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to advance the science and practice of engineerin ...

as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program.

References

External links

Pilbara Railways enthusiast site
{{- Railway lines in the Pilbara Mining railways in Western Australia Standard-gauge railways in Australia Recipients of Engineers Australia engineering heritage markers Iron mining in Australia Iron ore railways