Yesterday a QRN spokeswoman told ILN that the last of the smouldering coal was expected to be put out overnight.

While some of the coal wagons were unaffected and sent back to the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal for export, the rest of the trainload was being dampened down at QRN’s Jilalan Rail Yard throughout the weekend and yesterday.

After the recovered coal is declared safe, it will head back to Vale’s Carborough Downs longwall mine.

While there are some fears there was a spontaneous combustion incident during the journey, QRN is not jumping to any conclusions.

“Certainly QR National is continuing to work with the customer to investigate the cause,” the spokeswoman said.

“At this stage it is wrong to speculate on what might have caused it, we certainly always work with the customer.”

The appearance of the 24 smoky wagons was first spotted when the train arrived at the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal early Friday morning.

Rail loading operations at the terminal subsequently stopped for about 10 hours as fire crews were mobilised to address the threat.

While the QRN spokeswoman did not comment on whether any of the hauler’s procedures needed to be changed, she said as soon as QRN was aware of the situation it followed all the correct procedures.

ILN has still not received comment from Vale on the incident.

A Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal spokesman previously told ILN the coal was owned by the Brazilian mining giant, while further investigation revealed the smoky coal delivery came from Carborough Downs.