Rail
The purpose-designed railway was constructed to service iron ore deposits at Cloudbreak. Initial construction was commenced and completed in only nine months and a 40 kilometre railway extension to Christmas Creek completed in late 2010.
Accessible to authorised personnel only via a rail access road of the Great Northern Highway near South Hedland, Rowley Yard is the
service hub of the rail operations and administration support. Named after founding Fortescue Executive Director Graeme Rowley, the workshop at Rowley Yard is equipped to perform routine service and maintenance on Fortescue’s fleet of locomotives and freight cars.
Fortescue’s rail fleet consists of 15 GE Dash 9 - 4400CW diesel locomotives, nine SD90 locomotives and in excess of 1,200 freight cars including fuel and ballast cars. The ballast and fuel cars both play vital roles in the productivity and efficiency of the railway and its maintenance, as well as providing a fuel service to Cloudbreak. Each Fortescue train uses state of the art technology, including Electronic Controlled Pneumatic braking, carries up to 32,950 tonnes of iron ore in 240 freight cars and is around 2.7 kilometres long.
In March 2009 Fortescue moved its Train Control operations from Rowley Yard to Perth, making Fortescue the first operation in Western Australia to control a railway from outside a region of operation (approximately 1,800 kilometres away).The purpose-designed Train Control centre is currently undergoing an A$50m upgrade to facilitate an expanded railway network, with the capability of handling 155 million tonnes of iron ore per annum. Fortescue rail operations operate 24 hours a day, seven days per week between the Chichester Hub and Herb Elliott Port in Port Hedland. Upon arrival into Port Hedland trains containing iron ore from the mines are unloaded and stacked into stockpiles, ready for shipping.