Railway
OPR’s rail will be a heavy haul single track standard gauge iron ore railway with passing loops that is designed to meet an initial port export capacity of 45 million tonnes per annum. This can be expanded in small, efficient steps towards capacity of 80-100 million tonnes per annum. The system has been designed to handle iron ore from the various mines including lump, fines and magnetite concentrate.
The rail corridor will also permit spur lines from the mines to the south east in the Karara and Koolanooka areas to interconnect to Oakajee when required. The railway to Weld Range and Jack Hills has a length of approximately 570km.
Engineering for the Bankable Feasibility Study is complete and work on detailed design is underway.
Rail corridor
The process to nominate a rail corridor is underpinned by comprehensive feasibility studies and extensive stakeholder consultation.
A host of technical, social, heritage and environmental factors have been considered in developing the alignment. These range from land topography and the impact on flora and fauna, to existing infrastructure. The proposed rail corridor is designed to minimise community and environmental impacts by avoiding towns, heritage sites and high value conservation areas and where possible, residences.
In October 2011, the State Government announced conditional approval of the Oakajee Rail Corridor Nomination Report (RCNR) (Revision 18). Legislation is now required to create the Oakajee (Port and Rail) Act (working title) defining the legal parameters by which the rail is constructed and operates within the designated corridor, which will require passage through both Houses of Parliament.
Approval of the RCNR is the culmination of extensive feasibility studies and ongoing consultation with landholders, local government and key government agencies.
Really - DYOR
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