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According to badysts, the cost of a fugitive freight train, which was deliberately derailed in Western Australia after traveling 92 km without a driver, could reach $ 50 million.
The driver of a train operated by BHP Billiton went out to inspect a problem with one of his 268 cars yesterday when he took off without him on the Newman-Port Hedland line in the area back of Pilbara.
After reaching an estimated speed of 180 km / h, the mining group made the decision to derail the vehicle one kilometer long, tossing track cars and losing millions of dollars in iron ore.
"Let's add all the numbers and we could get 50 million dollars (in damages)," said mining badyst Tim Treadgold at 9News.
"It's either a human error, the driver has forgotten the handbrake, or a broken computer that loses control of his train.
"What happened with the switch of the dead man on this train – who should have stopped him? It did not seem that the train accelerated. "
The wreckage of the train has always fallen 119 km from Port Hedland, where a BHP control center has pulled out of the lane after 50 minutes of deliberation.
No one was injured in the derailment.
BHP's iron ore operations have since been suspended while the incident was being investigated internally and had also inspected the crash site.
It is thought that more than one kilometer of track was damaged during the incident and the release of the carts from the site will take about a week.
Despite this, BHP said that there were enough iron ore stocks in Port Hedland for their operations to continue around Western Australia.
In the meantime, the derailment sparked further discussion of automated train systems for mining companies.
Rio Tinto, the rival mining giant, is already using driverless trains, so automatic cars are unlikely to be a safer option.
"I saw automated transport bags in operation – they look very, very safe," said WA's premier Mark McGowan.
"In the case of trains, I feel it's the same thing."
Representatives of the Construction, Forestry, Marine, Mining and Energy (CFMEU) union are not so convinced that the systems could jeopardize jobs and safety.
"The uncertainty this creates for people who have jobs in the future," said Greg Busson of the CFMEU at 9News.
"Next, it's the safety aspect of people in remote areas, that trains are controlled from a central location in Perth."
This week's incident is also not the first time a BHP train has come off the track.
In 2015, 25 cars derailed on the same train line and blocked the lane in both directions. In February, another 40 cars derailed 130 km south of Port Hedland.
© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2018
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