| Roy Hill railway | |
|---|---|
 Map of the Roy Hill railway | |
| Overview | |
| Status | Operational |
| Locale | Pilbara,Western Australia |
| Termini | |
| Service | |
| Type | Heavy rail |
| System | Pilbara |
| Operator(s) | Roy Hill Infrastructure Pty Ltd |
| History | |
| Opened | 2015 |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 344 km (213.75 mi) |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) |
TheRoy Hill railway, officially theRoy Hill Infrastructure railway, owned and operated byHancock Prospecting, is a private rail network in thePilbara region ofWestern Australia built to carry iron ore.
In addition to the Hancock Prospecting network, several other independent iron ore rail lines comprise thePilbara Iron Ore Railways:
An application to construct the Roy Hill railway was lodged with theEnvironmental Protection Authority of Western Australia in October 2010. In the original application, the operator of the railway line, Roy Hill Infrastructure Pty Ltd, proposed to build a 320 km (198.84 mi) long railway line from theRoy Hill mine to thePort of Port Hedland. Construction was scheduled to take 24 months and the operational lifespan expectancy was greater than 20 years.[1]
Approval for the line was granted in November 2010 but amended in May 2011, increasing the railway line's length to 351 km (218.10 mi) as it was required to take a more northerly route than originally planned on the final stretch to the Roy Hill mine.[2] 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.[3]
Construction of the railway onCrown land required the passing of the Railway (Roy Hill Infrastructure Pty Ltd) Agreement Act 2010 as an amendment to the Railways (Access) Act 1998 by theParliament of Western Australia.[4]
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 theRailway Technical Society of Australasia, alongside the Auckland Electrification Project.[5] 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.[6]
The company currently operatesES44ACIsdiesel-electric locomotives, manufactured by US companyWabtec, to pull their trains carrying 35,000 tonnes of iron ore.[7]Two new units as well as 150 ore cars were painted pink to raisebreast cancer awareness in 2018.[8]
In late 2021, Roy Hill announced plans to test fully-battery-powered heavy-haul locomotives. They envision recharging the batteries whiledynamic braking on the heavily-loaded downhill runs.[9] The first FLXdrive battery-electric locomotive was unveiled at Wabtec's design and development center on 31 October 2023.[10]
| BHP |
| ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fortescue |
| ||||||
| Rio Tinto |
| ||||||
| Hancock Prospecting |
| ||||||
| Atlas Iron |
| ||||||
| Other operations |
| ||||||
| Main lines | |
|---|---|
| Goldfields–Esperance | |
| Great Southern | |
| Mid West | |
| Peel | |
| Pilbara | |
| Perth | |
| South West | |
| Wheatbelt | |
| Tourist and heritage railways | |
| Timber railway lines | |
| Trams and tramways | |
| Approved by Parliament but not constructed | |
^† Denotes railway is closed, partially closed or has been removedSee also:Agricultural railways ♦Wheatbelt railways | |
