Roy Hill railway

The Roy Hill railway, officially the Roy Hill Infrastructure railway, owned and operated by Hancock Prospecting, is a private rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia built to carry iron ore.

Roy Hill railway
Map of the Roy Hill railway
Overview
StatusOperational
LocalePilbara, Western Australia
Termini
Service
TypeHeavy rail
SystemPilbara
Operator(s)Roy Hill Infrastructure Pty Ltd
History
Opened2015
Technical
Line length344 km (213.75 mi)
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)

In addition to the Hancock Prospecting network, there are three more independent iron ore rail lines in the Pilbara, making up the Pilbara Iron Ore Railways. One is operated by Rio Tinto, the Hamersley & Robe River railway, the Fortescue Metals Group operates the Fortescue railway and BHP the Goldsworthy and Mount Newman railway.

History
Railways in the Pilbara region. Roy Hill railway in magenta  .

An application to construct the Roy Hill railway was lodged with the Environmental 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 the Roy Hill mine to the Port of Port Hedland. Construction of the line was scheduled to take 24 months and the operational lifespan of the line was in excess of 20 years.[1]

Approval for the line was granted in November 2010 but amended in May 2011, to alter the length of the railway line to 351 km (218.10 mi) as it was required to take a more northerly route as originally planned on the final stretch of railway to the Roy Hill mine.[2] The reason for the route change was that Roy Hill Infrastructure was, subsequent to approval, unable to obtain permission from third party mining lease holders to construct the railway as approved and therefore had to alter the route.[3]

Construction of the railway on Crown 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 the Parliament of Western Australia.[4]

The construction of the railway commenced in 2012 and was completed after 27 month, in 2015, with the first ore train travelling 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.[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]

In a first for a GE locomotive, two new units as well as 150 ore cars for the Roy Hill railway were painted pink to raise breast cancer awareness in 2018.[7]

In late 2021, Roy Hill announced a transition to a fully battery-powered, heavy-haul locomotive, manufactured by US company Wabtec, by 2023, a world first. The company, at this point, operated Wabtec ES44ACIs diesel-electric locomotives to pull their trains carrying 35,000 tonnes of iron ore.[8]

References
  1. "Roy Hill Infrastructure Railway" (PDF). www.epa.wa.gov.au. Environmental Protection Authority of Western Australia. October 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  2. "STATEMENT THAT A PROPOSAL MAY BE IMPLEMENTED (PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT 1986)" (PDF). www.epa.wa.gov.au. Environmental Protection Authority of Western Australia. 29 November 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  3. "ROY HILL INFRASTRUCTURE RAILWAY, SHIRE OF ASHBURTON, SHIRE OF EAST PILBARA, TOWN OF PORT HEDLAND – PROPOSAL UNDER S46 OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT 1986 TO AMEND CONDITION 5-1 OF MINISTERIAL STATEMENT 847" (PDF). www.epa.wa.gov.au. Environmental Protection Authority of Western Australia. May 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  4. "Railway (Roy Hill Infrastructure Pty Ltd) Agreement Act 2010" (PDF). www.legislation.wa.gov.au. Government of Western Australia. 22 June 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  5. "2016 Roy Hill Rail Project & KiwiRail – Auckland Electrification Project". www.rtsa.com.au. Railway Technical Society of Australasia. 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  6. Lannin, Sue (1 May 2014). "Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill project in WA mines first iron ore". ABC News. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  7. Vantuono, William (4 October 2018). "GE, Roy Hill "in the pink"". Railway Age. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  8. Ballard, Henry (15 September 2021). "Roy Hill on track with battery powered locomotive purchase". Australian Mining. Retrieved 26 March 2022.

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