07.04.2017
Stuck till 2018?
Travellers using the Utrecht Central railway station in the Netherlands will have noticed that a blue 49ft Nifty Lift HR17 4x4 articulated boom lift has been sitting in one of the new entrance halls gathering dust since December.
The machine, owned by local dealer Eurosupply, was used in the upgrade work to the station between 2015 and the end of last year, working on the new entrance hall, with its final tasks carried out on the Mezzanine level near to the exit escalator to the Jaarbeurs exhibition complex.
It seems it was overlooked when major digging and construction work began outside of the hall, effectively stranding the machine inside. It could be there now until at least 2018, unless an alternative solution is found. The cranes currently working on the construction work alongside the building are too small to handle it at the height and radius, so it will have to remain in place until the external construction has been completed, allowing a smaller crane to get closer to the building, or a larger crane will need to be brought in that can reach over the construction site and lift the five tonne machine.
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The Nifty Lift HR17 4x4 is likely to remain on the Mezzanine level until 2018
So it looks as though the Dutch railway company has decided to cordon it off and wait until the building work has been completed. In the meantime Eurosupply will simply continue to invoice the monthly rental fee of course, and has probably put a very high purchase price on this particular machine?
A nice little earner you might say!
Have a safe weekend
I think this must be a case of more money than sense for the railway company. I can't believe that this machine cannot be retrieved if panes of glass or doorways were removed.
Sherm
While it earns rent and gains no operating hours it is also free of wear and tear. Back in the1970s my dad owned a fleet of rent-a-cars. Three men rented a new four door sedan, drove it 400 miles north, rented a motel and ran up a long distance phone bill, smoked cigars and egged the interior of the car. I was dispatched to retrieve or rescue the car. The motel owner confiscated and hid the car as his collateral against the outstanding motel room balance. When I found the car and saw the mess I told my dad to write it off. He didn't understand what they had done and blamed me for their misbehavior. I was glad I was 400 miles away from him. The fit hit the Shan.