Iron ore company Rio Tinto PLC (LSE:RIO) announced today that it has agreed to buy four battery-electric trains to be used to carry ore from its mines to the ports in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The London-listed company, which was a major miner of coal until effecting an exit in August 2018, previously set a target of reducing its carbon emissions by 50% by 2030.
Trials of the locomotives, which have been bought from Wabtec (NYSE:WAB) Corporation, are expected to start in 2024.
Purpose-built charging stations will be constructed at ports or mines, with the trains capable of generating additional energy while in transit through a regenerative braking system, taking energy from the train and using it to recharge the onboard batteries.
Rio Tinto managing director of port, rail and core services Richard Cohen said, “Our partnership with Wabtec is an investment in innovation and an acknowledgement of the need to increase the pace of our decarbonisation efforts.”
Shares in Rio Tinto were relatively unchanged at 5091p in afternoon training, down around 19% from their all-time high above 6700p last May.