Rio Tinto, the world’s biggest iron ore miner, has reported a derailment of a driverless train and wagons carrying iron ore at its Western Australian iron ore operations. The incident occurred when the driverless train collided with a set of stationary wagons loaded with iron ore.
According to the company, 22 wagons carrying iron ore and three locomotives were impacted in the incident, which took place around 80 km from Karratha shortly after midnight on Monday. No one was hurt in the derailment, which is at least the third such incident for Rio Tinto in the past year.
Each wagon typically carries around 116 tonnes of iron ore, meaning that as much as 2,550 tonnes of iron ore may have been impacted by the derailment, according to Reuters calculations.
The Office of the National Safety Regulator (ONRSR) confirmed the incident and stated that the recovery train sent to the site had collided with the ore train it was meant to recover, after the ore train was disabled by a mechanical failure. ONRSR said it would be making a series of inquiries, focusing on the operation of and adherence to signaling systems in the area.
Rio Tinto stated that work would soon begin to clear the rail line, which typically takes five to seven days to repair, potentially disrupting the miner’s tightly scheduled rail operations that carry iron ore from its network of mine sites to the Dampier port.
The company’s driverless train network is a key part of its operations, as it aims to increase efficiency and productivity in its iron ore business. However, the recent derailment incidents have raised concerns about the safety and reliability of the autonomous system.