696 wagons, 7.6 kilometres, one train: South Africa just took back a world record it set in 1989

Over the weekend of 17-18 October, Transnet Freight Rail sent a single train 861 kilometres from Saldanha, north of Cape Town, to the Sishen iron ore mine in Kathu — 696 wagons long, stretching 7.6 kilometres (about 4.7 miles) from front to back. It reclaims a world record South Africa first set on this same line in 1989 and lost to Australia's BHP in 2001. Instead of one engine pulling, electric and diesel locomotives were spread through the train and linked wirelessly, sharing the pulling and braking like a single synced team. Transnet's designers, crews and safety regulators planned every simulation and signal for the run.