Rio Tinto buys Wabtec electric trains for ore transport

The iron-rich Pilbara mining region in Western Australia will see its first major steps towards lowering emissions as Rio Tinto secures four battery-electric trains for use in the region, as part of wider plans to halve emissions by 2030.

Developed by Wabtec, the FLXDrive locomotives have been designed for heavy freight, and are set to enter production in 2023 for live trials in 2024.

Read more: Wabtec unveils world's first battery-electric freight train

The purpose of the trains will be to deliver ore from the company's mines to their ports on the coast. Charging stations are set to be placed in both which means full journies must be completed before needing to recharge.

The company claims the trains have been fitted with additional energy generation through a "regenerative braking system" which takes energy from the train when braking and uses it to recharge the onboard batteries.

Tinto believes completely decarbonising its freighting could reduce active emissions from its iron ore operations by as much as 30% annually.

Richard Cohen, the mining giant's director for ports, rail and core services believes this purchase marks an essential first step in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“Our partnership with Wabtec is an investment in innovation and an acknowledgement of the need to increase the pace of our decarbonisation efforts", he said.

“Battery-electric locomotives offer significant potential for emissions reduction in the near term as we seek to reduce our Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions in the Pilbara by 50% by 2030.”

Scope 1 emissions refer to direct emissions through things such as fuel consumption through sectors such as in-company transport and freight. Scope 2 emissions refer to indirect emissions through things such as purchased electricity or gas. Scope 3 emissions refer to any other indirect emissions through a company's value chain, such as end-product use, employee commutes, waste disposal and shipping.

Scope 3 emissions often make up the highest total greenhouse gas emissions, but can be difficult to reduce unless a company works on dealing with the other two.

“This locomotive provides the power, fuel savings and emissions reductions to cost-effectively run rail networks in the mining industry", said Rogerio Mendonca, the head of Wabtec's freight department, adding this move shows an interest in reducing emissions.

Once the delivery has been made, tests will be conducted in the Pilbara region against a range of safety and functional criteria.

While the mining sector currently accounts for between 4-7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, there are a number of sustainability, environmental and ethical challenges for the sector that it must tackle in order to achieve its goals.

Mining is incredibly destructive as an industry, and Tinto itself has been embroiled in a number of controversies in recent years, such as the destruction of the Juukan Gorge cave complex or from poisoning leftover from lead mines.

Read more: Rio Tinto faces human rights crisis over Bougainville mine

Mining also strips lands of natural resources, which are often finite or only located in clusters in certain parts of the world.

The miner has faced a complete shakeup in response to public outcry, and reports have circulated that governments must be tougher on the mining sector in order to meet climate targets and accusing the entire sector of greenwashing.

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