Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Mining Co. Says First Autonomous Freight Train Network Fully Operational

posted by mrpg on Wednesday January 02 2019, @08:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the I-choo-choose-you! dept.

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for takyon

Mining co. says first autonomous freight train network fully operational

On Friday, major mining corporation Rio Tinto announced that its AutoHaul autonomous train system in Western Australia had logged more than 1 million km (620,000 mi) since July 2018, S&P Global Platts reported. Rio Tinto calls its now-fully-operational autonomous train system the biggest robot in the world.

The train system serves 14 mines that deliver to four port terminals. Two mines that are closest to a port terminal will retain human engineers because they are very short lines, according to Perth Now.

The train system took ten years to build and cost Rio Tinto AUD $1.3 billion (USD $916 million) to implement. The trains are remotely monitored by a crew located 1,500 km (932 mi) away in Perth.

According to the mining company, the autonomous trains make sure the rails are clear ahead and monitor internal systems as well, checking for faulty wheels or couplers and bringing the train to a stop if there's a problem.

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Mining Co. Says First Autonomous Freight Train Network Fully Operational | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 19 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:35PM (1 child)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:35PM (#781459) Journal

    Yes, unusually high temperatures for many days in a row (most recent: end week of last year at over 45C, with 2-3 days in a row with temperatures hovering 49C).

    There's always AC. Given the expenses, they can always add AC to the quarters of the engineers.

    You have to pay well into 6digit for the miners to fly-in-fly-out in Pilbara.

    Sure, but they also do more than just sweat when they're out there. I imagine the pay is pretty good for people who carefully watch over 2+km trains loaded with refined ore. The problem I was referring to is that even with that, it's quite easy for governments to add substantially to the costs of employing people, such as taxes, "superannuation" [ato.gov.au] (retirement "savings"), working "entitlements" [ato.gov.au], fringe benefit taxes, and a host of regulations to show compliance with (which means HR overhead).

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @11:40PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @11:40PM (#781770)

    Oh, what has come to this world if neither global corporations nor govts listen to khallow's wisdom.