y ork is steeped in railway history and a new chapter
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is being written with a ,C50m contract to install a new light rail system in Strasbourg. It replaces a tram network that stopped running back in 1960.
The deal for 26 of the first UK-built Eurotrams was won by ABB Transportation, which also has workshops at Crewe and Derby. Ironically the Derby site has recently announced 289 redundancies and is threatened with closure unless ABB can secure further orders.
The job of delivering the street cars to Strasbourg has fallen into the capable hands of Warwickshire haulier Allelys Transport: to date 17 have crossed the North Sea en route for France.
In simple terms it's a tram-a-week routine with collection from York on a Friday and the bulk of the journey taking place during silent hours. It travels by road to Hull where the trailer-borne load reverses on to the North Sea Ferry for Rotterdam. Embarkation can only take place at high tide to ensure that the outfit with its shallow 8in (200mm) deck clearance doesn't ground on the ramps.
From Rotterdam it crosses from the Netherlands into Germany at Venlo and heads south along the autobahns towards Strasbourg. Having made its delivery the outfit takes the short route back to York in time to prepare for the next tram loading on the Thursday.
Each Eurotram is 116.5ft (35.5m) long and weighs almost 40 tonnes, so a specialist trailer was needed for the job. Working closely with King Trailers, Allelys decided on a new design of modular trailer based on a system of stacking decks. The demand was for a loadbed length with a removable neck to allow the train to be offloaded at the front at the shallowest of angles, directly on to French rails.
The result was a mix and match design with separate deck modules that connect using a joint-and-socket system.This will allow it to be built up into various lengths to suit other jobs after this contract is completed.
When changing the deck configuration, rollers in the end of each section run along the tram tracks and guide it into position. In addition to its current task of accommodating trams the heavy duty main deck can be used to form a 100-tonne low-bed trailer; an invert fitting feature gives Allelys the choice of converting it into a dropwell.
The 14.8ft (4.5m) main neck section accommodates the power pack and winch that helps with loading or offloading but a King jeep dolly is used to spread the weight across the rump of Allelys' Daf 95-430 8x4 STGO Category 3 heavy hauler.
At the rear of the trailer are five French-made SAE steered axles slung beneath King's hydraulic suspension to carry the load. Manoeuvring along the route, particularly into the Strasbourg tram depot, requires something extra which is why the trailer specification includes remote kingpin steering with a manual override that plugs into the rear. The outfit grosses at around 98 tonnes,well below its STGO Category 3 rating, but it has added great versatility to the fleet.
Allely is a family firm, founded 35 years ago by Maurice Allely with a single Thornycroft Sturdy Star.
Today it runs over 40 vehicles on domestic and international work but during the past 20 years it has specialised in heavy haulage and has put together an impressive fleet of Daf "biggies”.
ABB's York-built Eurotram may be taking Strasbourg into the 21st Century but its a good old British haulier that is taking the tram into town.