Rio Tinto says a driverless iron ore train derailed in Western Australia

Rio Tinto said there were no people within the vicinity of the incident and no injuries, as it notified regulators and began an investigation. "Work will soon begin to clear the rail line." The Office of the National Safety Regulator (ONRSR) confirmed the incident and said it was also investigating. "The recovery train is reported to have collided with the ore train it was sent to recover, after it was disabled by a mechanical failure," it said in a statement to Reuters.

Rio Tinto said on Monday an autonomous train had derailed at its Western Australian iron ore operations overnight and that it was investigating the incident in which no one was hurt.

The incident occurred when an autonomous train collided with a set of stationary wagons loaded with iron ore impacting 22 wagons and three locomotives, according to statements from Rio Tinto and Australia's rail safety watchdog. "Rio Tinto confirms a rail incident occurred about 80kms (50 miles) from Karratha shortly after midnight on Monday," a spokesman told Reuters via email.

The news was first reported by Australia's ABC. Rio Tinto said there were no people within the vicinity of the incident and no injuries, as it notified regulators and began an investigation.

"Work will soon begin to clear the rail line." The Office of the National Safety Regulator (ONRSR) confirmed the incident and said it was also investigating.

"The recovery train is reported to have collided with the ore train it was sent to recover, after it was disabled by a mechanical failure," it said in a statement to Reuters. "ONRSR ... will be making a series of enquiries, at this stage these are focussed on the operation of and adherence to signalling systems in the area."

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