Rio Tinto’s fully autonomous heavy haul freight rail network has been extended to include banker locomotives in an augmentation of the AutoHaul™
system. Australia’s Senior Director of Sales and Delivery Roslyn Stuart discusses how this latest innovation is enhancing the economic sustainability and efficiency of this ground-breaking project.
The exits of several of mines in the AutoHaul™ network are very steep. To travel up these steep gradients, the ore train and its joints are put under increased pressure. To relieve this and reduce the chance of joint failure, two additional locomotives known as bankers are attached to the rear of the train to help ‘push’ it up and out of the mine.
