Operations
LKAB operates iron ore mines in Kiruna, Svappavaara and Malmberget in Norrbotten County, Sweden. Most of the output is transported by rail to the ice-free Port of Narvik, a route named the Northern Circuit. A minority of the ore is transported to Luleå on the Southern Circuit. Located on the Baltic Sea, ore is shipped to Baltic customers, or delivered to furnaces operated by SSAB in Luleå and Oxelösund. The Ore and Ofoten Lines are 536 kilometres (333 mi) long, including the branch to Svappavaara, with the route from Kiruna to Narvik being 170 kilometres (110 mi), and from Malmberget to Luleå being 220 kilometres (140 mi). Operations are handled by LKAB's subsidiary Malmtrafik i Kiruna (MTAB) in Sweden, and Malmtrafikk (MTAS) in Norway. Daily there operate 11 to 13 trains in each direction on the Norther Circuit, and five to six trains on the Southern Circuit.
The trains hauled by Iore-class locomotives are 68 cars long and weigh 8,600 tonnes (8,500 long tons; 9,500 short tons). From Riksgränsen on the national border to the Port of Narvik, the trains use only a fifth of the power they regenerate. The regenerated energy is sufficient to power the empty trains back up to the national border. Although the trains and hopper cars are all owned by LKAB, the line is owned by the Swedish Transport Administration and the Norwegian National Rail Administration. The Ore and Ofoten Lines are also used by passenger and container trains.
CargoNet operates two daily container trains from Alnabru Terminal in Oslo, Norway, named the Arctic Rail Express (ARE). The trains operate via Sweden and take 27 hours. The trains haul mostly food northbound and fish southbound along a distance of 1,950 kilometres (1,210 mi). DB Schenker launched a competing service in January 2011. There is about 0.5 million tonnes of non-ore freight transport on the Ofoten Line each year.
SJ operates three daily trains from Narvik to Kiruna Central Station, of which two continue onwards, either to Luleå Central Station or Stockholm Central Station. Trains to Stockholm are night trains. Travel time from Narvik to Kiruna is 3 hours and 1 minute, travel time to Luleå is 7 hours and 4 minutes, and travel time to Stockholm is 18 hours and 25 minutes.
There are also plans to transport coal from Northland Resources' mine in Kaunisvaara, starting in 2013.
Read more about this topic: Iron Ore Line
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