[4] Historically, these lines were operated by the Norwegian State Railways (NSB) in Norway and the Swedish State Railways (SJ) in Sweden, but in 1996 the operations, but not the infrastructure, were transferred to the new company Malmtrafik i Kiruna (MTAB), a joint venture between LKAB, NSB and SJ, and its Norwegian subsidiary Malmtrafikk (MTAS).

[6] In 1998, LKAB estimated a steady 35% increase in iron ore production until 2005, and requested that the governments grant sufficient funding to upgrade the lines from 25-tonne (25-long-ton; 28-short-ton) to 30-tonne (30-long-ton; 33-short-ton) maximum permitted axle load.

[8] In March 1998, LKAB awarded the contract to build 750 new 100-tonne hopper cars to Transnet of South Africa.

[13][14] The first two sections were delivered by Adtranz in August 2000,[2] and was subjected to intensive tests before the manufacture of the rest of the series.

[20] This will increase the capacity from 28 to 33 million tonnes per year, and at the same time reduce the number of departures per day from 21 to 15.

[21] The name Iore is a mixture between the term "iron ore", and the fictional character Eeyore from Winnie-the-Pooh, spelled "I-or" in Swedish.

[22] Adtranz and later Bombardier Transportation conducted the final assembly of the locomotives at Kassel, Germany.

[29] The converters operate independently, with their own cooling and control systems and are shut down automatically in case of failure.

Each locomotive has six three-phase asynchronous alternating current traction motors, each rated at 918 kW (1,231 hp) and each powering a single axle.

[3] The extra wall thickness also provides for increased structural strength, to withstand collisions with snowdrifts and elk.

[11] The sides of the walls were built as flat as possible to reduce the sticking of blowing snow and ice formation.

Diagnostic information is available to the driver and can be sent to the control center via GSM-R.[1] The locomotive has a large and bright cab with space for up to three people.

[3] 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.

Operations are handled by LKAB's subsidiary Malmtrafik i Kiruna (MTAB) in Sweden, and Malmtrafikk (MTAS) in Norway.