Rio Tinto’s AutoHaul brings freight rail into 21st century

Mining major Rio Tinto on Friday officially rolled out its $940-million AutoHaul rail technology programme, marking the world’s first automated heavy-haul long distance rail network.

Rio’s 2.4 km-long trains, running a network of 1 700 km of track, has now safely travelled more than 4.5-milion kilometer autonomously since they were first deployed in December 2018, delivering iron-ore from 16 mines to ports in Dampier and Cape Lambert.