ENGINEERS AUSTRALIA Western Australia Division NOMINATION OF PILBARA HEAVY HAUL RAILWAYS FOR AN ENGINEERING HERITAGE AUSTRALIA ENGINEERING HERITAGE AWARD First train about to leave Tom Price June 1966 PREPARED BY ENGINEERING HERITAGE WESTERN AUSTRALIA ENGINEERS AUSTRALIA, WESTERN AUSTRALIA DIVISION October 2015 Pilbara Heavy Haul Railways Page 1 Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 3 2 DEFINITION AND SCOPE .................................................................................................................. 4 3 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE........................................................................................................ 7 4 HERITAGE RECOGNITION AWARD NOMINATION ........................................................................... 8 5 OWNER’S LETTER OF AGREEMENT ................................................................................................. 9 6 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE PILBARA ................................................................................ 10 7 HISTORY OF IRON ORE MINING IN THE PILBARA .......................................................................... 13 8 DESCRIPTION OF THE ORIGINAL PILBARA HEAVY HAUL RAILWAYS ............................................. 17 9 ASSESSMENT OF HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE ................................................................................... 25 10 EMINENT PERSONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROJECT .............................................................. 29 11 INTERPRETATION PLAN AND PANELS ....................................................................................... 31 12 PROPOSED BUDGET AND FUNDING .......................................................................................... 31 13 RESPONSIBILITY FOR FUTURE CARE .......................................................................................... 31 14 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. 31 15 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................. 32 APPENDIX ...................................................................................................................................... 34 Pilbara Rail Nomination Rev 6 Pilbara Heavy Haul Railways Page 2 1 INTRODUCTION The Pilbara Heavy Haul Railways have become one of the world’s largest and most significant railway systems. The railways are an integral part of a major industry involving the mining, processing, railing and shipping of iron ore. Starting from scratch in the 1960s, the Pilbara region of Western Australia has become one of the world’s highest-producing iron ore mining provinces. This required the development of new mines, railways, roads, towns, ports, power and communication systems and processing plants in a region that was then largely occupied by Aboriginal groups and the pastoral industry. Remote from Perth and other centres of population, this development needed the provision or upgrading of all the facilities normally associated with industrial areas and their supporting communities. From the pioneering days of the 1960s there has been continual expansion and new development activity in the region. Many new mines have been established along with the necessary infrastructure. With the region’s still very extensive iron ore reserves and a continuing demand for the product, this development is likely to go on at some level for many years to come. This heritage nomination is intended to recognise the significance of the whole of the Pilbara railway system, but concentrates on the four original heavy haul railways. These are the Mt Goldsworthy- Port Hedland (Goldsworthy Railway), Paraburdoo-Tom Price-Dampier (Hamersley Railway), Newman-Port Hedland (Mt Newman Railway), and Pannawonica-Cape Lambert (Robe River Railway) lines. These railways are still operating, having been upgraded and added to over the last 50 years. Ownership of the railways, mines and associated infrastructure has gone through various permutations over the years. These have included direct ownership, joint ventures and separate companies formed to operate the developments. The Goldsworthy and Mt Newman railways are now controlled by BHP-Billiton or related companies, while the Hamersley and Robe River railways are controlled by Rio Tinto Iron Ore or related companies. Rio Tinto supports the nomination for heritage recognition of their railways, and these are the subject of this formal nomination. In 2016 the company will be celebrating 50 years since its first shipment of iron ore from the Pilbara. It has asked if the placing and unveiling of the proposed heritage markers can be carried out that year, in conjunction with other commemorative activities relating to the original development of the overall mining project. Whilst only two of the four earliest railways are being nominated for heritage recognition at this stage, it is considered most appropriate to include descriptions of all four. This is in order to recognise and illustrate the overall pioneering development of the railways serving the Pilbara iron ore mining industry and their significance to Australia. It is also relevant that significant collaboration took place between the companies developing the early railways in establishing engineering standards and practices. It is intended that at a later date the original BHP-Billiton railways will be nominated for formal heritage recognition. Mention is also made of subsequent development of the original heavy haul railways, together with the more recent railways built or under construction by Fortescue Metals Group to the Solomon and Chichester hubs, and by Hancock Prospecting to the Roy Hill mine. Pilbara Heavy Haul Railways Page 3 2 DEFINITION AND SCOPE As described in the Introduction, the title of the works being nominated is the Pilbara Heavy Haul Railways. The scope of the interpretation plan and commemorative activities now proposed covers two of the four original railways, namely the Hamersley Railway and the Robe River Railway. These two are now operated by Rio Tinto. Nomination of the other two, now operated by BHP Billiton, is subject to further consideration. The locations of the railways are shown in the following maps, provided by courtesy of Geoproject Solutions Pty Ltd. Pilbara Heavy Haul Railways Page 4 Pilbara Railways in 1972 Pilbara Heavy Haul Railways Page 5 Pilbara Railways in 2015 Pilbara Heavy Haul Railways Page 6 3 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The heavy-haul railway systems in the Pilbara region of Western Australia were initiated in the 1960s. This followed the Commonwealth Government’s change in policy to allow the export of iron ore and the subsequent commencement of major mining developments in the region. This has led to the development of the industry that now produces Australia’s largest export commodity by value and weight and has contributed greatly to the nation’s prosperity. In 2013/14 iron ore exports represented 22.5% by value of all goods and services exports, almost double the value of coal, the next highest. The original railways connected four mines to ports at Port Hedland, Dampier and Cape Lambert. They were the first standard gauge, heavy haul railways in Australia, and the first extensive privately owned and operated railways. They have since expanded to cover many more mines and now comprise major systems with a total track length of nearly 3,000 km. They are significant engineering achievements. Extensive investigations and research were carried out to build on the limited pre- existing Australian experience with heavy haul railways. The earliest projects required innovation to overcome local issues including high temperatures, cyclonic weather, remote locations, minimal existing infrastructure, lack of prior design and construction experience in the area, and lack of data on local conditions, particularly rainfall and runoff. The outcomes include the country’s first major non-government railways, which carry the world’s longest and heaviest regularly-scheduled trains. Trains more than 3.5 km long routinely haul more than 200-300 cars and 20-30,000 tons of iron ore. The early railways were built under demanding physical and technical conditions and provided the basis for further developments over the past 50 years. These railways are an essential component of the iron ore production industry and an important part of the history of the Pilbara. The Pilbara railways can be considered of international significance, not only for their high capacity and productivity, but also for the technical research and innovation that have been a feature of their operation from the beginning. This has attracted interest from heavy haul railway operators in other countries. In the early stages of operation the planned quantities of ore to be hauled were quickly exceeded, leading to failures and maintenance difficulties. Heavy haul railways in the United States suffered similar problems. Whereas the US companies decided to reduce the loadings, the Pilbara companies decided to increase the railway capacities by upgrading the components with the support of an intensive research programme. Pilbara Heavy Haul Railways Page 7 4 HERITAGE RECOGNITION AWARD NOMINATION The Administrator Engineering Heritage Australia Engineers Australia Engineering House 11 National Circuit BARTON