About 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 any other Australian heavy freight rail network in private ownership. The total length of its track is about 1,700 km (1,056 mi). The one in green History The first part of the Pilbara Iron rail network to be constructed was a line known as the Hamersley railway, between a newly opened mine at Tom Price and a newly constructed port (now the port of Dampier) at King Bay. The Hamersley railway project began in December 1964, when Japanese steel mills agreed to purchase iron ore from Hamersley Iron over 16 years beginning in August 1966. The railway's route was chosen after two aerial surveys and comparisons of numerous possible alternatives. In April 1965, a joint venture of Morrison-Knudsen, Mannix Contractors of Canada and McDonald Constructions of Australia was appointed to build the line of 180 miles, for $15,680,000.Excavations commenced at Dampier on 16 June 1965. Until the completion of a service wharf at that location, cargo had to be brought ashore on lighters, or unloaded at Point Samson. On 6 September 1965, the freighter Katsura Maru became the first vessel to berth at the service wharf; its cargo included the railway's first four locomotives. The original track for the Hamersley railway was 59 kg/m (119 lb/yd) rails manufactured in Japan, laid on sleepers of jarrah and wandoo timber from Western Australia with dog spike fastenings and ballasted with 15.2 cm (6 in) of crushed stone. For most of the construction period, track was laid at a rate of 2.4 km (1.5 mi) per day. On 23 June 1966, the first ore train ran from Tom Price to the coast, and on 1 July 1966 the line was officially opened by the Minister for Industrial Development, Charles Court. In 1970, construction began on an extension of the Hamersley railway from Wombat Junction, just north of Tom Price, to a second mine, at Paraburdoo, about 64 km (40 mi) south west of Tom Price. Engineering design and construction management for the extension was undertaken by Minenco; the contractors were a joint venture known as Morrison-Knudsen-Mannix-Oman (MKMO). The Paraburdoo extension incorporated a number of design improvements. In particular, the track was made from heavier, 68 kg/m (137 lb/yd) rail sections, which were flashbutt and thermit welded into continuous rails, and attached by pandrol clips to timber sleepers. Construction was completed in March 1972, and the first official Paraburdoo train ran on 5 May 1972. In 1972, a programme of rerailing the original railway began. In that year, 12 km (7 mi) of 59 kg/m (119 lb/yd) track and dog spikes were replaced with 68 kg/m (137 lb/yd) track and pandrol clips. The replacement programme continued until its completion in 1977. Hamersley Iron also arranged for test installation of concrete sleepers at various locations from November 1973. The tests were successful, and in 1980 work commenced on the re-sleepering of the original railway with concrete sleepers, a task completed in 1986.The Hamersley railway was subsequently expanded with the construction of spur lines to Marandoo, Brockman and the Yandicoogina mines. Locomotive (current and past) Alco S-2 Alco C-415 Alco C-630 Alco C-636 / MLW M-636 C36-7 CE636R SD50S New South Wales 40 class locomotives Dash 9-44CW ES44DCi (remote control from a different location)
