Roy Hill operates the most modern roster of motive power and rollingstock in the Pilbara, consisting of:
The GE ES44ACi Evolution Series locomotives, or EVOs as they are known are rated at 3280 kilowatts or 4400 horsepower and weigh in at 196 tonnes with the same physical body shape as the units built for Rio Tinto, but with bogies, underframe and fuel tank painted black and illuminated rear number boards on back of the radiator wing.
In May 2018 after reaching 55 Mtpa milestone a further five locomotives were named;
In September 2018 a further five ES44ACi locomotives (RHA 1022 - 1026, serials 64739-64743) were delivered in a striking pink livery in support of breast cancer via the vessel BBC Virginia, these five units were also the first export units built at General Electric's Fort Worth, Texas plant. In October 2020 a single ES44ACi locomotive RHA 1027 serial 66295 was completed by Wabtec at Fort Worth Texas and shipped out of the plant on the 13th November 2020. It was delivered to Port Hedland on the 29th March 2021 off the vessel BBC Olympus. In January 2022 a single ES44ACi locomotive RHA 1028 serial number 66307 was built by Wabtec at Fort Worth Texas in November 2021 and shipped out of Houston on the 23rd November 2021 by the vessel Calypso. It was delivered to Port Hedland on the 9th January 2022 and haul by road to Roy Hill's welding yard by Tutt Bryant on the 12th January 2022. All rollingstock has been supplied by China Southern Rail or CRRC Yangtze Co. Ltd, from the Zhuzhou works in China. The ore waggons being designated as CCK138 model, operate in married pairs, or slave/control configuration with F type couplers and drawbars between the pair riding on Amsted Super Service Ride Master bogies. These and all the other waggons are using NYAB overlay ECP and the Knorr-Bremse tension spring park brakes. Current operations involve train lengths of 2700 metres and consist of three locomotives and 232 married pair ore waggons with the consists operating with two ES44ACi unit hauling 116 waggons then another ES44ACi unit mid-train with a further 116 waggons. These loaded trains are banked by another pair of ES44ACi locomotives out of the Roy Hill mine (339 km) to the 307.9 km grade crossing. Empty trains are usually timed to depart Tad Yard after a loaded has arrived and then planned to cross an opposing loaded train usually at Marubeni Loop located south of the Yule River approx. 152 km south of Port Hedland. The railway has a total mainline length of some 346 km with the rail being supplied by Nippon Steel Japan from both the Yawata Mill and the Sumitomo Metal Corp mill, with the concrete sleepers manufactured by the Italian-Thai Development Corporation Limited (ITD) at the Italian-Thai Industrial Complex 'C Compound', located at Wihan Daeng in Saraburi Province in Thailand. Images of the sleepers and rail can been seen at right.
Single ended refuge spurs are located at the:
The four passing sidings or loops are approximately 3200 metres in length are located at;
Train Control is located in Perth and currently verbal train orders are issued over a digital TETRA radio network, with the system being very close to changing over to the Ansaldo cab based signalling system with moving block and is the first in the world that has specified a satellite-based train control system with a SIL4 (Safety Integrity Level 4) train localisation function at system level for train control. For more information, photos and a schematic drawing / map of their system, click here for the Roy Hill website. |
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