Bluebird Helps Northern Territory Take Flight

A rail journey interrupted by Cyclone Tracy more than 30 years ago has resumed with the help of Bluebird Rail Operations.

Hopper wagons, made largely from XLERPLATE® steel, are transporting iron ore over 200 kilometres of railtrack from the Frances Creek Mine, north of Pine Creek, to the Port of Darwin. From there, the iron ore will be exported to China as was done before Cyclone Tracy.

Darwin has been earmarked by the Northern Territory government as a gateway to Asia, with its commercial role significantly enhanced by the construction of the Adelaide to Darwin railway.

Bluebird Rail Operations is in the process of making 70 standard gauge multi purpose rail wagons which will move more than 1.5 million tonnes of iron ore destined for China each year.

Each wagon contains more than 10 tonnes of Grade 350 XLERPLATE® steel and can carry 64 cubic metres of heavy ore, or 106 cubic metres of less dense material.

The hopper wagons are permanently paired to reduce production and operating costs.

To facilitate unloading, each wagon has two six metre long bottom discharge doors made from Grade 350 XLERPLATE® steel in 6mm, 8mm and 12mm thicknesses.

The same grade of steel is also used to create internal slope sheets which are angled at 67 degrees, to allow for quick emptying at 'between rail' unloading facilities. It takes just 10 seconds to unload the iron ore.

Prototype wagons constructed by Bluebird Rail were so successful that the initial order was increased by 30 wagons.

In the last three years Bluebird Rail, located at the Islington Rail Complex in South Australia, has constructed or re-manufactured more than 400 wagons for the mining sector and more than 150 container wagons for long distance services.