Pilbara Railways
The Pilbara Railways are a collection of railways in the Pilbara region of northwest Western Australia.
Historical railway
The first railway in the Pilbara was the Cossack Tram, followed by the Marble Bar railway.
Current railways
The heavy duty iron ore railways in the late twentieth century were owned by four separate companies, but with mergers and takeovers ownership reduced to two.[1]
Newer iron mining companies sought access to existing railways, as required by the authorising acts, this was strongly and successfully resisted. Thus Fortescue Metals Group was forced to build its own railway.
A railway to Roy Hill, along with others proposed are either now under construction or in planning stages.
Gauge
The various railways are all standard gauge, but research by the International Heavy Haul Association (IHHA) has found that the design of wheel and rail profiles is extremely important to handle the heavy tonnages. These profiles are different enough on the different lines to rule out interchange of the rolling stock of the ore trains.[2]
Ports
The large tonnage heavy duty iron ore railways require heavy duty ports, which have to accommodate very high tidal ranges.
- BHP Billiton
- Port Hedland
- Mount Newman
- Port Hedland
- Goldsworthy - now closed
- Shay Gap
- Yarrie mine
- Fortescue Metals Group
- Point Anderson near Port Hedland
- Christmas Creek mine
In development
- Anketell Port, near Cape Lambert.