Hamersley & Robe River railway

Hamersley & Robe River Railway
Iron ore train leaving the Brockman 4 mine in June 2012
Overview
Type	Heavy rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Pilbara, Western Australia
Termini	Mesa J, Brockman, Paraburdoo, West Angelas, Hope Downs, Yandi mines Dampier, Cape Lambert
Operation
Opened	1 July 1966
Operator(s)	Rio Tinto
Depot(s)	Tom Price Cape Lambert Dampier
Technical
Line length	1,300 km (807.78 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)

The Hamersley & Robe River railway, majority-owned by the Rio Tinto Group, 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 1,300 km (807.78 mi).

In addition to the Pilbara Iron network, there are three other iron ore rail lines in the Pilbara. BHP Billiton operate the Goldsworthy and Mount Newman railways, while Fortescue Metals Group operate the Fortescue railway.

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, Morrison-Knudsen-Mannix-McDonald, was appointed as construction contractor. 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 then Minister for Industrial Development, Charles Court.