The Roy Hill railway, officially the Roy Hill Infrastructure railway, owned and operated by

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 ...

, is a private rail network 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 of

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 ...

built to carry iron ore. In addition to the Hancock Prospecting network, several other independent iron ore rail lines comprise the Pilbara Iron Ore Railways: * Rio Tinto's

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 ...

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 ...

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.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� ...

's Goldsworthy and Mount Newman railways.

History

An application to construct the Roy Hill railway was lodged with the

Environmental Protection Authority of Western Australia The Environmental Protection Authority of Western Australia (EPA) is a statutory authority within the Government of Western Australia. Established on 1 January 1972, it comprises an independent board who provide public environmental advice to t ...

in October 2010. In the original application, the operator of the railway line, Roy Hill Infrastructure Pty Ltd, proposed to build a long railway line from the

Roy Hill mine The Roy Hill mine is an iron ore mine in the Chichester Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, located north of Newman and south of Port Hedland. With indicated and inferred reserves of more than , it is expected to become one of t ...

to the

Port of Port Hedland Port Hedland is one of the largest iron ore loading ports in the world and the largest in Australia. In 2022, it had the largest bulk cargo throughput in Australia. With the neighbouring ports of Port Walcott and Dampier, Port Hedland is one ...

. Construction was scheduled to take 24 months and the operational lifespan expectancy was greater than 20 years. Approval for the line was granted in November 2010 but amended in May 2011, increasing the railway line's length to as it was required to take a more northerly route than originally planned on the final stretch to the Roy Hill mine. The route change was necessary because Roy Hill Infrastructure was unable to obtain permission from third-party mining lease-holders to construct the railway as originally approved. Construction of the railway on

Crown land Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...

required the passing of the Railway (Roy Hill Infrastructure Pty Ltd) Agreement Act 2010 as an amendment to the Railways (Access) Act 1998 by the

Parliament of Western Australia The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia, which constitutes the legislative branch of the state's political system. The parl ...

. The construction of the railway commenced in 2012 and was completed after 27 months, with the first ore train traveling the line in December 2015. The new railway included eight bridges over waterways and three over roads and rails. The project jointly won the 2016 Railway Project Award of the Railway Technical Society of Australasia, alongside the Auckland Electrification Project. The combined construction cost of the mine, port and rail was A$10 billion, with a daily cost of A$10 million and a work force of 3,000 reported in 2014. The company currently operates ES44ACIs diesel-electric locomotives, manufactured by US company

Wabtec Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation, commonly known as Wabtec, is an American company formed by the merger of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company (WABCO) and MotivePower in 1999. It is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Wab ...

, to pull their trains carrying 35,000 tonnes of iron ore. Two new units as well as 150 ore cars were painted pink to raise

breast cancer awareness Breast cancer awareness is an effort to raising awareness, raise awareness and reduce the Social stigma, stigma of breast cancer through education about Breast cancer screening, screening, Cancer signs and symptoms, symptoms, and Breast cancer ...

in 2018. In late 2021, Roy Hill announced plans to test fully-battery-powered heavy-haul locomotives. They envision recharging the batteries while

dynamic braking Dynamic braking is the use of an electric traction motor as a generator when slowing a vehicle such as an electric or diesel-electric locomotive. It is termed " rheostatic" if the generated electrical power is dissipated as heat in brake grid re ...

on the heavily-loaded downhill runs. The first FLXdrive battery-electric locomotive was unveiled at Wabtec's design and development center on 31 October 2023.

References

External links

Pilbara Railways
– rail enthusiast website
Roy Hill Infrastructure Railway

MINEDEX website: Roy Hill Port Infrastructure and Rail
Database of the

Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety The Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety is a department of the Government of Western Australia. The department was formed on 1 July 2017, out of the former Department of Mines & Petroleum and Department of Commerce. A ...

{{coord missing, Western Australia Iron ore railways Mining railways in Western Australia Railway lines in the Pilbara Railway lines opened in 2015 Standard-gauge railways in Australia 2015 establishments in Australia