Brake failure blamed for high-speed runaway mining train

Brake failure was yesterday blamed for a runaway train laden with iron ore that sped through the Australian outback for almost an hour and had to be derailed remotely by mining giant BHP. The train moved off on its own after the driver got out to make an inspection, travelling at speeds of up to 110 kilometres (68 miles) per hour towards the town of Port Hedland in Western Australia’s Pilbara in early November.

Following a preliminary internal investigation, BHP said the train initially stopped due to a disconnected cable controlling the braking system, but then started moving as the emergency brake was not engaged. At the same time, the braking system that halted the 268-wagon train “automatically released after one hour while the driver was still outside”, Western Australia Iron Ore asset president Edgar Basto said in a statement.

BHP, which owns the four-locomotive train, derailed the train before it reached Port Hedland, causing the carriages to crash off the rails, damaging around 1.5 kilometres (a mile) of track but hurting no one.