Rio Tinto plans to slash its very well paid train-driving workforce in the Pilbara by 40% and replace them with fully automated trains by 2016, according to media outlet Bloomberg. Its expected up to 400 train drivers will be affected by the move.
The company’s W.A. based train drivers are reported to be the highest paid in the world, earning almost a quarter of a million dollars a year in some circumstances.
Bloomberg reports that Rio will spend $518 million on the automated train network that will include 1,500 kilometres of track, carrying trains that will stretch up to 2.3 kilometres in length. The company aims to have the network operating by late 2015.
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