Rio Tinto is celebrating its first fully unmanned rail journey at its Pilbara iron ore operations as the mining giant targets a fully autonomous train network in the region by late 2018.

The pilot run, part of the miner’s so-called AutoHaul program, was completed without a driver on board, making it the first fully autonomous heavy haul train journey ever completed in Australia.

The journey was completed safely, being closely monitored in real-time by Rio Tinto teams and representatives of the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator, both on the ground and at the mining giant’s operations centre at Perth Airport.

The train travelled nearly 100km from Wombat Junction to Paraburdoo.

Rio still has to meet all relevant safety and acceptance criteria and secure regulatory approvals to go fully autonomous next year.

Iron ore chief executive Chris Salisbury said the successful pilot run put the company on track to meet its goal of operating the world’s first fully-autonomous heavy-haul, long-distance rail network, which would unlock significant safety and productivity benefits for the business.

“Gains from AutoHaul are already being realised, including reduced variability and increased speed across the network, helping to reduce average cycle times,” he said.

“Rio Tinto is proud to be a leader in innovation and autonomous technology in the global mining industry which is delivering long-term competitive advantages as we build the mines of the future.

“New roles are being created to manage our future operations and we are preparing our current workforce for new ways of working to ensure they remain part of our industry.”

Rio’s trains started running in autonomous mode in the first quarter of this year.

About 50 per cent of Rio’s pooled fleet rail kilometres are already being completed in autonomous mode but with drivers on-board and 90 per cent of pooled fleet production tonnes are AutoHaul enhanced.

Rio Tinto operates about 200 locomotives on more than 1700km of track in the Pilbara, transporting ore from 16 mines to four port terminals.

BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group are well advanced with their respective autonomous truck haulage operations, but neither has signalled a move to unmanned rail operations.

Rio Tinto shares were up $1.59, or 2.39 per cent, to $68.12 at 9.10am.