East West Line Parks – Project Iron Boomerang

QR-INTERAIL · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:15 pm

I’ve heard about this fascinating project for sometime and I’m surprised there hasn’t been any discussion on Railpage Australia™ about this $12.4 billion (US) project.

Accordingly I decided to start this thread in the Operators forum, considering; if the project becomes a reality EWLP will be an “operator” and secondly the railway will cover two states and the Northern Territory, rather than having discussion spread through multiple state forums.

That been said, I’ve also started a thread in the Locomotives and Rollingstock forum where discussion on the above rail assets can be made. An interesting Trainz picture (produced by the company) can be seen of a possible livery for the operator. See link below:

http://www.railpage.com.au/f-p1129714.htm#1129714

Question

So what is the Project Iron Boomerang?

In a nutshell it’s a relatively simple idea in theory. However making it a reality will be an enormous and demanding task, requiring time, money and personnel. In an era where heavy industry is trying save money and to be “green” to the environment, this project seems to have merit and I can’t really see it failing.

Getting to the point. What is it?

It is a railway that will link the Pilbara region iron ore fields to the coal fields of Queensland namely the Bowen basin. The current steel making process is essentially inefficient. A train load of ore is railed to port, the ship sails to its overseas steel making destination and offloads its ore and returns EMPTY.

Likewise the train returns back to the ore fields EMPTY. Concurrently coal in Queensland (& NSW) is shipped the same way.

With Project Iron Boomerang (PIB) the vision is to have steel smelters in Bowen and in the Pilbara. Iron ore would be railed East to Bowen (and obviously to the Pilbara smelters) to the steel smelters there. Coal for the Bowen smelters is supplied locally, i.e. Bowen basin coal.

The train then would return West carrying coal for the Pilbara blast furnaces. And there you have it, an efficient railway never running empty.

Both east and west steel smelters would produce actual steel and the end product exported as per usual via Abbot Point and Port Hedland respectively. The transportation savings and efficiencies of the project are compounded here when smaller ships can transport the steel product, enabling them to travel through the Suez and Panama canals.

The ships can return to Australia with any type of back loading further saving money.

I think this is a fascinating project and hope it becomes a reality. Their vision is to have trains running in 2014.

Further information can be found at:
http://www.eastwestlineparks.com.au/
http://www.eastwestlineparks.com.au/pages/project-iron-boomerang.php

NOTE: I am not affiliated with this project or company in anyway, although I wish I was!

Cheers,

QR-Interail

Narrow gauge. Australia's standard gauge!

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=qrinterail
http://qrinterailsphotos.fotopic.net/

bulldozed · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:44 pm

Hell of a lot of railway to build in six years... would make for a fascinating project if it does happen though!

Ethan's Models
Specializing in Australian N Scale, and model rail-specific contract drafting.

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M636C · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 2:22 pm

The map is a bit worrying!

It shows a line from Gladstone and Mackay to Mt Tom Price with a line to Port Hedland and a branch to Karratha.

However they talk about building the steel furnaces at Bowen or Abbot point.

Presumably if they plan to convert most of the iron ore being shipped from the Pilbara to steel, they will have the cooperation of the companies who already have railway lines in the area, and would connect at Newman to the BHPB line.

Previous efforts to convert ore into higher value product, the Robe pellet plant and the BHPB hot briquetted iron plant have both proved uneconomic or impractical, so what are the chances of much more complex processes being successful?

Where are they proposing to get the money to build these steel plants on both coasts?

Will the customers who now buy ore be happy to buy steel instead, even though they presumably have their own steel plants?

If the map is suspect, why should the economics be correct?

M636C

ParkesHub · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 4:48 pm

Pressman · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 5:25 pm

pm1225 · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 9:20 pm

Lang Hancock and Bejokie-Petersen were on about this 35+ plus years ago. It was impractical then its more impractical now. By the way Lang Hancock had huge iron ore leases that his family still control.

bingley hall · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 10:43 pm

I think there might be a thread in the Infrastructure forum, but I can;t be bothered looking.

At the end of the day the proposal is crap and is no more than a thinly disguised excetcise in conning foreign investors to fornt up with their hard earned in order to keep some Gold Coast ponce living the high life on consultancy fees.

Coastal shipping could move the coal and ore back and forth at a fraction of the price of rail - much like One Steel at Whyalla do. Iron ore to Port Kembla and coal back to Whyalla in the same ship.

Have I said too much?

Bing

Life is just a bowl of All Bran...you wake up every morning and it's there

nutbagg · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 12:59 am

3300km in 45hrs (av.73.3km/h) is pretty quick for a bulk train unless its all double track and downhill. Volunteers to live in the middle the Gibson desert sign here please-. Reduced greenhouse emmissions by using more rail instead of ships, what are you smoking?

Mate, if that loco pulls as hard as you do, it'd move anything.
I'd still rather have an ALCo.