Heaviest trains

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The heaviest trains in the world are freight trains hauling bulk comodities such as coal and iron ore. One might distinguish between regular operations, and occasional record breaking runs.

Contents 1 Australia 1.1 Coal 1.2 Iron Ore 2 Brazil 3 Mauritania 4 Scandinavia 5 South Africa 5.1 Coal 5.2 Iron ore 6 Record breaking runs 7 See also 8 Technical aspects 9 References

[edit] Australia

[edit] Coal

• Queensland Railways - mid train locomotives.

[edit] Iron Ore

• BHP Billiton ^[1]
• Rio
• Fortescue Metals Group - 32,320T

[edit] Brazil

• Vale ^{[2] [3]}

[edit] Mauritania

• Iron Ore

[edit] Scandinavia

• Malmbanan from Kiruna, Sweden to Narvik, Norway hauls iron ore trains with IORE locomotives-—the most powerful in the world - 8000T

[edit] South Africa

[edit] Coal

[edit] Iron ore

• Sishen (mine) to Saldanha (port) - 22,300T ^[4]

[edit] Record breaking runs

• South Africa ^[5]

[edit] See also

• Transport in Australia
• Transport in Brazil
• Transport in South Africa
• Longest trains

[edit] Technical aspects

• Axleloads up to 40T.
  • Rail weight may need to be as heavy as 68kg/m.
• Gauge is not so important but track strength is.

• Couplers AAR
• Curves must be fairly gentle else wagons may be pulled off the inside of curves and derailed.
• Changes of gradient must be gentle else coupling forces may cause them to snap.

• Brakes - air brakes being upgraded to ECP

[edit] References