Low load lifts high to ceiling
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A NOVEL heavy haulage trailer combining a low load bed and the ability to lift the payload of 30-34 tonnes to a height of almost seven metres above road level, has been built by a Swiss specialist for the consortium which is constructing Europe's longest road tunnel.
The trailer, recently delivered by Nencki Hydraulik und Fahrzeugbau AG of Langenthal, is being used to carry fully built-up ventilation plant into the tunnel and place it in prepared positions above the roadway.
The unit is hauled by a specially modified MercedesBenz 6x6 tractive unit and will also be used for similar work in the Seelisberg tunnel on the approach road to the St Gotthard tunnel of 16 km in length.
A total of 42 ventilation units is being installed in the two tunnels, and when the new road through the Alps is finished, the special trailer will be used by the maintenace section to allow defective equipment to be handled without lengthy tunnel closures.
The load bed had to be low because the payload must travel through the low access tunnel before reaching the working site. Unladen weight of the 16.5m-long trailer — which can be towed from either end — is 27 tonnes, inclusive of the complete hydraulics system, which allows the ventilator equipment to be inched into the precise alignment required.