A TRAIN has derailed after colliding with a truck at Mooliabeenee, near Bindoon, spilling more than 1000 litres of diesel. The train clipped the back of the truck just after 8.30am.
No one was injured but a Fire and Emergency Services Authority spokeswoman said more than 1000 litres of diesel had spilled as a result of the crash. The Department of Environment and Conservation's Pollution Response Unit are at the scene.
FORTESCUE Metals Group would consider talks with Atlas Iron over rail access in the Pilbara region, Fortescue chairman Andrew Forrest said yesterday.
The comments follow revelations last week that Atlas had paired with rail provider QR National to launch and fund a study into building a multi-user railway through the iron ore province.
Fortescue is one of only three companies in the Pilbara boasting their own railway to port, and Mr Forrest said his company was open to co-operating with Atlas.
CHILDREN and young teenagers have been touching coal trains and playing on the railway crossing beneath the railway bridge, between Throssell and Forrest Streets, according to worried locals.
They have raised the alarm about the unfenced railway corridor running through Collie’s central business district.
Collie Shire Council chief executive officer Jason Whiteaker said he was not aware of complaints made about children playing in the unfenced area.
Rail freight company, QR National, and iron ore miner, Atlas Iron, are investigating the possibility of an independent, open-access rail line for the Pilbara.
The privately owned nature of the Pilbara's rail assets has been a barrier to new entrants but this proposed line, to run from the East Pilbara to Port Hedland, would allow junior miners much freer access to rail transport.
A feasibility study should be finished this year, and if the line goes ahead QR expects to see ore on the rails by the end of 2015.
The West Australian government will support QR National and Atlas Iron's bid for a common rail line in the Pilbara, but says it won't put any money towards it.
WA Premier Colin Barnett told reporters in Perth on Thursday his government "in principle" supported any rail network to link mining projects in the state's northwest, but said they would have to be self-funded.
"It's a project that's been talked about for along time," Mr Barnett said.
"The state government would be, in principle, in support of this to be able to have a common user rail system that services different companies, different mines.
ATLAS Iron will today unveil a complete game-changer for the Pilbara region and the iron ore miner, with the launch of a study to develop a new railway.
The Perth-based miner, in a joint venture with QR National, will conduct a feasibility study for the construction of a 600km multi-user railway, at a cost of up to $3.5 billion, to transport ore from the east and southeast Pilbara to Port Hedland Port.
The new rail line would allow the junior miner to bypass dealing with the major miners such as Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton that refuse access to their rail infrastructure.
The study, named the Pilbara Independent Rail Project, is expected to be completed by the end of this year, with first haulage tipped for 2015.
Police are treating the death of a 60-year-old man, who was found dead in a Kalgoorlie railway yard donga, as suspicious.
The man was found in a donga at the Transfield rail complex, on Yarri Road, just after midday yesterday.
It is one of the State's most significant heritage buildings serving as railway station, a museum and a library in the past. Today, there is a growing concern for the iconic building as it falls into a state of disrepair.
Rita Stinson is the President of the Geraldton Historical Society and says there is a wide spread concern for the old railway building near Pages beach on Marine Terrace.
"It is so sad to see such a significant building in such a dilapidated state," she says.
"This building is probably one of the most significant heritage buildings in Geraldton and in Western Australia."
THE first of CBH's new locomotives has been loaded onto a ship in Savannah on the east coast of the USA and is about to start its seven week voyage to WA.
Locomotive number 001 is the first of 22 new locomotives to make the journey.
It is a 2700 horsepower, narrow gauge locomotive and was named by a WA grower in CBH's train naming competition late last year.
The Yilliminning will reach WA soil in May and be out to work the Wheatbelt tracks mid-year.
CBH general manager operations Colin Tutt said the shipment of the first locomotive was an exciting step in the process towards CBH owning its first rail fleet.
A business conference in Perth has heard poor planning threatens to stifle growth at Fremantle port. The CEO of Ports Australia, David Anderson, says the port is expected to triple its output to two million containers a year by 2030. He says that is in line with similar growth at other major ports.
THE freight distance between struggling manufacturing sectors in the eastern states and more than $300 billion worth of projects in the West Australian resource pipeline could be cut by 16 hours if an ambitious plan to connect WA's major ports by road and rail goes through.
The PortLink project is still in its preliminary stages, but if realised would also mean untapped regions of mineral-rich Western Australia considered unviable due to their remoteness could become more attractive exploration targets.
WA Regional Development Minister Brendon Grylls yesterday announced $5 million, topping up the federal government's contribution of $2 million for planning of an early stage in the plan, an inland intermodal transport hub in Kalgoorlie-Boulder and a sealed road heading north towards the Pilbara.
Human error caused the electrical fault that sparked a fire and shut down much of Perth's rail network last week, Transport Minister Troy Buswell revealed today.
A contractor working on the CityLink project incorrectly connected power cables, causing the electricity network to shortout, which led to the fire, Mr Buswell told Parliament.
The incident occurred during the sinking of the Fremantle rail line.
HUNDREDS of train passengers were again hit with major delays on the rail network after an electrical fault cancelled services on the Fremantle line.
After a morning of commuter chaos, train services on the Fremantle Line resumed about 9.45am.
Trains between Fremantle and Loch Street were cancelled early today from about 6.40am after a surge protector on a booster transformer, which is part of the overhead power system, failed and power was lost.
The disruption also impacted on the Midland Line.
A dispute between port and rail operator Asciano and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) is set to continue after negotiations between the parties broke down.
The union had refused to allow the industrial umpire Fair Work Australia (FWA) to broker negotiations for a new enterprise agreement, Asciano said in a statement on Friday.
Asciano applied to the FWA for conciliation last week following an 18 months dispute between the union and its ports business Patrick.
Regional Development Minister Brendon Grylls says a railway service between Geraldton and Busselton is not something being considered by the Government at the moment.
Professor Richard Weller from the University of Western Australia says a high-speed railway servicing regional areas should be built to minimise urban sprawl.
Mr Grylls says the project should be considered in the future to help stimulate growth in regional areas.
The Wheatbelt Railway Retention Alliance says new railway locomotives coming into service will improve the safety of regional roads.
The first of 22 new locomotives commissioned by Co-operative Bulk Handling (CBH) has finished production in the United States.
The infrastructure is part of a $175 million investment into grain transport by rail.
AN electrical fire has brought Perth's commuter rail network to a standstill, halting southern suburbs trains in and out of the city.
An electrical fire near Perth's central railway station has caused major disruption for the city's commuters with major rail routes shut down.
Transperth says the Fremantle line is closed in both directions while the Armadale-Thornlie line is only running to Cannington and the Midland line is only running to Bassendean.
The State Government has approved a rail and power supply project in the Pilbara to connect the new Hope Downs 4 iron ore mine, a Rio Tinto and Hancock Prospecting joint venture, to the existing Hope Downs 1 mine infrastructure.
The project is estimated to be worth more than $400 million and will generate up to 600 jobs. Premier Colin Barnett said the government had granted a special licence for a 53-kilometre railway line and approved a 220-kilovolt electricity transmission line.
BHP Billiton Nickel West continues to lend a hand to help community organisations. Last week an army of 100 staff from the Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter and Kambalda Concentrator helped the Loopline Railway Historical Society restore the old railway station, locomotives and carriages.
RIO Tinto has splashed out $US518 million ($481.86 million) on a project to run the world's first driverless long-distance, heavy-haul rail network
SHAREHOLDERS of Murchison Metals today approved the sale of its stakes in two iron ore-related ventures to Japan's Mitsubishi.
At a general meeting, Murchison shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of the $325 million sale, which clears the way for Mitsubishi to acquire half stakes in the Jack Hills iron ore mine and Oakajee port and rail project.
Murchison, meanwhile, expects to retain around $217m in cash from the transaction after settlement of debts.
Rio Tinto will spend $US3.4 billion ($3.16 billion) expanding its iron ore operations in Western Australia's Pilbara region.
Rio shares were recently down 1 per cent, or 69 cents, at $70.32.
The miner will spend $US2.2 billion on work to extend the life of its Nammuldi mine and $US1.2 billion on early works needed for the expansion of the Cape Lambert port and rail facilities, the company said today in a statement.
The revised Rio expansion figures came as rival BHP Billiton announced a small drop in half-year profit to just under $US10 billion. BHP's iron ore divsion accounted for about half of its profit.
Work has started on sinking the Fremantle railway line as part of the Perth City Link project.
The $360 million rail component will help connect Northbridge to the CBD.
The Premier Colin Barnett says it is a major milestone.
"As of today, work will start on the major and most critical part of this project and that is the construction of the tunnel and the sinking of the rail line," he said.
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