Mining giant Rio Tinto has welcomed the decision by the Australian Competition Tribunal that will see third party users banned from the Hamersley and Robe rail lines.

This is great news. Rio Tinto runs a highly efficient railway that is fully integrated with our port and mine operations. This would be severely hindered if third parties were allowed to run trains on our rail network, not to mention the knock-on negative effect on the Western Australian and national economies from creating such inefficiencies,” Rio Tinto’s Iron Ore acting chief executive Paul Shannon said.

This is breaking news and more information will be added as it becomes available.