BHP crew "fixed" the wrong train

The rampant story of the train wreck of the BHP Group's iron ore has taken a new twist.

A preliminary report on a 2018 accident in a remote Australian outback revealed that a rail maintenance crew was dispatched to help a malfunctioning freight train unintentionally performed work on the wrong vehicle.

Subsequently, a 2.9 km long unaccompanied train derailed after an uncontrolled journey of about 91 km towards Port Hedland at a speed of up to 162 km /h. The world's largest mining company suspended iron ore mining in Western Australia for five days and lost about 4 million tons of production.

The November 5, 2018 incident began after an emergency braking system was triggered due to a problem with the on-board communications system, prompting the driver to get off for a check, as stated in a preliminary report by the Australian Transportation Security Bureau on Tuesday.

When the driver inspected and manually applied the hand brakes from the front of the train, the dispatcher dispatched a service gang from a nearby camp to help, advising them to start at the opposite end.

At about 4.40 am, the driver "heard air from the mine's brakes and soon noticed that the train was starting to move forward." About 20 minutes later, the driver of the second train on a nearby track contacted dispatchers to report that service personnel had instead mistakenly applied hand brakes to the vehicle, the report said.

Two locomotives, 245 mine wagons and 2 km of railway infrastructure were destroyed as a train weighing about 42,500 tons was stopped.

The Bureau also advised that the ongoing investigation is addressing issues such as cable connectors for rail lines, air braking systems and risk management processes. BHP, which reached an agreement with the train driver in February, has taken immediate steps to improve safety, embarked on a program of other improvements and is planning longer-term upgrades to automatic train protection systems, the report said.

“The incident was the result of procedural non-compliance by the driver, as well as problems with the integration of the electronically controlled air braking system into the rail network,” said Edgar Basto, President of BHP Iron Ore in Western Australia.

The driver “did not put the automatic brake handle into emergency position,” and if the correct procedures were followed, the train would not roll back, Basto said.