Railway workers at Central Iron Ore have developed and implemented a project to reduce the distance for ore transportation to the crushing plant. The initiative will save nearly 500 tonnes of diesel fuel annually, worth over UAH 25 million.

Two ore transportation routes to the crushing plant caught the attention of Railway Office specialists. The first route transports 3 million tonnes per year, the second – 2.6 million tonnes per year.

"Considering the current production configuration and railway development diagrams of the Railway Office, we found an option to optimise two of three ore transportation routes," commented Andrii BRYKOVETS, head of the Railway Office's production bureau at Central Iron Ore. "The existing route from 'Hrekuvata' station, which has been used to transport ore to the crushing plant, was 7.9 kilometres long. Building a bypass enabled us to transport ore directly to the crushing plant, reducing the transportation distance by 5 kilometres. Consequently, diesel fuel consumption is reduced by 489 tonnes per year. Taking into account the annual macro forecast for diesel fuel prices, the project should pay for itself within 1.4 months."

Specialists reconstructed the railway development scheme by building a new bypass from 'Rozvantazhuvalna' (crushing plant) station to 'Hrekuvata-Promyslova' station. Project design and cost estimate documentation was developed for this purpose, and the access route was built –  a 0.7-kilometre section of track and railway embankment for accessing the unloading overpass. It took nearly two months for specialists to complete the work.