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c0lo [soylentnews.org] writes:

(15 Dec 2025) Fortescue Infinity Train gets 14.5 MWh battery that never needs charging [update] [electrek.co]
Goes loaded downhill and recharges the 14.5 MWh battery by "regenerative braking" with enough energy to drag the empty train cars uphill - didn' quite fully work.

(15 Feb 2026) Fortescue trials battery-electric locomotives in Pilbara as decarbonisation race tightens [abc.net.au]

Fortescue launched two battery-electric locomotives this week, rounding out its fleet of 70 diesel-powered machines hauling precious iron-ore from pit to port.
...

^{The locomotive's battery is the equivalent of "200 to 300 average electric vehicles" and capable of powering a refrigerator for 30 years, according to Mr Otranto.}

...
The locomotives, purpose-built by Caterpillar subsidiary Progress Rail, boast what Fortescue has called the world's largest land-mobile battery, with a capacity of 14.5 megawatt-hours.

The pair will save the company 1 million litres of diesel each year, still just a fraction of the 80 million litres the company consumes annually.

"It is a large undertaking: these take probably a couple of years to manufacture, so once we pull an order, you can see it will take a couple of years to transition the entire fleet," Mr Otranto said.

The company hopes to complete the transition ahead of its "real-zero" deadline of 2030.
...
The locomotives' massive battery will be charged in two ways.

The first is via Fortescue's growing renewable energy apparatus, which it says it is expanding aggressively at a rate of more than 3,000 solar panels a day.

The second charging method is through regenerative braking, a mechanism drawing closely from the company's stalled "Infinity Train" concept.

Andrew Forrest had previously touted an in-house electric rail model, developed with Australian engineering firm Downer Group, that generated all the power it needed using the uphill-downhill dynamics of the Pilbara ranges.

The project was canned, however, in September, axing more than 100 staff.

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