28.04.2013

Railway crane and access

Belgian crane distributor Belgian Lifting & Equipment Company (BLE) has built and delivered a very special rail mounted crane and access platform to rail construction and maintenance company Duchêne, for the installation of overhead electrical wires throughout the country’s rail network.
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The cranes and platforms are mounted on a popular RS type wagon

Grove distributor BLE opted for a Grove 30 tonne RT530E-2 superstructure with a 29 metre main boom. The maximum lifting capacity was reduced to 14.3 tonnes at three metres radius and 1.2 tonnes at 12 metres.

The company took a standard RT530E-2 Rough Terrain crane, removed the superstructure and replaced the standard steel counterweight with a lead one that was significantly smaller and more compact. The new unit had to outperform Duchêne’s existing equipment, while meeting the requirements of Belgian Rail (Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen (NMBS)).
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The crane has been derated to 14.3 tonnes

The first challenge was to find a suitable, used railway wagon, BLE finally went with the widely used RS model with overall length of 18.66 metres, which had been completely refurbished and prepared for the application by a specialist company.

It then mounted the crane along with the superstructures from two 12 metre Sky-High 120MA boom lifts – one at each end of the wagon and both powered by 240 volt AC electrical current.
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The 12 metre Skyhigh booms are mounted at each end of the wagon

The machine was then equipped with a variety of safety devices to ensure stability of the crane and platforms, along with railway requirements, including specialist electronics, automatic axle locking, slew limiters and emergency generators.

The company says that the final stage was the hardest, obtaining the approval and certification from Belgorail, an independent certification body for the railway. The whole process took several months, from producing the technical file down to the final testing and approval.
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The cranes and platforms stow low on the wagon

The end user Duchêne is now operating the new rig and claims that is has substantially improved efficiency in the installation of electrical overhead wires while boosting overall safety.