Thursday 13 January 2022

Rio Tinto on track to cut emissions with electric trains purchase

Rio Tinto has purchased four battery-electric trains to transport iron ore from its mines to ports in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

It is part of the company's decarbonisation strategy and supports its target of reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% by 2030 in the Pilbara region.

The 7MWh battery-electric trains from Wabtec Corporation will be recharged at purpose-built charging stations at the port or mine.

They are also capable of generating additional energy while in transit through a regenerative braking system, which takes energy from the train and uses it to recharge the onboard batteries.

A full transition to net zero emissions technology of its entire fleet of railways would reduce Rio Tinto Iron Ore's diesel-related carbon emissions in the Pilbara region by around 30% annually.

Richard Cohen, Rio Tinto Managing Director of Port, Rail and Core Services said: “Our partnership with Wabtec is an investment in innovation and an acknowledgement of the need to increase the pace of our decarbonisation efforts.

“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.”