Codelco El Teniente recovers four decommissioned railway ore cars

Codelco's El Teniente division has successfully recovered four railway ore transport cars that had been out of service for approximately five years. The refurbishment project, completed through collaborative maintenance efforts, aims to increase equipment availability, optimize costs, and improve system reliability.

Each car has a 50-ton load capacity. The repair process involved significant technical upgrades, including work on pneumatic systems, hydraulic components, hopper structures, gates, and braking systems. A key improvement included applying an anti-adhesive polymer film to the hoppers to prevent wet mineral, locally known as ‘llampo’, from sticking to the walls and reducing load capacity.

The total cost to repair all four units was equivalent to the price of purchasing a single new unit, representing a significant saving for the operation. Due to their size, the cars had to be disassembled, with the hoppers separated from the chassis to be transported by truck outside the mine for maintenance.