BHP has announced it is trialling two fully EV locomotives so that when they derail the next runaway train the resulting mayhem will be a low emission event.
An industry insider told The Times that it was a step in the right direction for the mining giant, adding,
“We want to assure the public that our derailments are as environmentally friendly as possible. When one of these bad boys goes off the tracks there will be no diesel seeping into the earth, just many tonnes of twisted shareholder value baking in the hot Pilbara sun”
If successful, BHP says the EV locomotives could eventually expand across the fleet. If not, the company will at least have demonstrated its commitment to sustainable derailments
Naturally, the entire mining world is looking. With Rio announcing the next vehicle to lose a radioactive capsule will be EV and BP saying that it’s only regret over Deepwater Horizon was that the rig wasn’t powered fully by electricity.
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