The crane and heavy load transport specialist Eisele AG Crane & Engineering Group from Maintal near Frankfurt and the Rigaer Mainz GmbH & Co. KG built three Liebherr 8-axle mobile cranes for the renovation of two historic railway bridges at an intersection of the Deutsche Bundesbahn in Darmstadt. After the listed steel structures were lifted out, they were positioned on a nearby asphalt surface. The bridges are currently being renovated at this point. In the fall of this year, massive mobile cranes are expected to return to return the two bridges to their original positions.
The contract for the renovation of the bridge structure was awarded to the building contractor Adolf Lupp, who commissioned Eisele to complete the crane work. In return, Eisele brought Riga Mainz on board as a partner to support him with this order. The bridge construction, which consists of two separate steel bridges, leads a single-track line over a double-track section of the Deutsche Bundesbahn.
Both bridges are 40 meters long, 13.65 meters wide and 5.3 meters high and weigh 160 tons. For the renovation work, the two steel structures had to be positioned on 1.5 m high concrete elements on a nearby asphalt surface. Since the mobile cranes could not reach this area, the bridges were pulled out and then loaded onto SPMTs. The 6-axis high-performance modules then transported the massive components into the intended position, with the unloading process being carried out by the hydraulic systems of the SPMTs.
The location of the first bridge and the fact that it had to be lifted over a 12.9 m long overhead line mast made the job a huge challenge. Therefore the first hoist of Riga’s brand new LTM 1650-8.1 was carried out in collaboration with Eisele’s LTM 1500-8.1. Both cranes were ballasted with 165 tons of counterweights. The LTM 1650-8.1 with a telescopic boom extended to 33.8 meters lifted a weight of 88.2 tons in a radius of 19.1 meters. The remaining 85 tons were lifted by the LTM 1500-8.1 with its 31.7 meter long telescopic boom in a radius of 16.4 meters.
When lifting the second steel bridge, Eisele’s LTM 1500-8.1, which was standing in the middle, worked with an LTM 1450-8.1 from Riga Mainz, which was equipped with 134 tonnes of counterweight. The 450 ton crane had to handle a load of 85 tons on its 31.9 meter telescopic boom in a radius of 15.5 meters. The third crane was necessary because time constraints meant that it was not possible to move the cranes between the hoists between the hoists.
Uwe Langer, Managing Director of Riga Mainz, took on responsibility for planning the crane lifts and was personally on site when the bridges were pulled out. He says: “The new LTM 1650-8.1 really impressed me. As the crane hoisted the heavy bridge, it pretended it had nothing on the hook. The boom and chassis are a masterpiece of design. It’s fantastic – a spectacular machine in this crane class! The LTM 1650-8.1 will impress the entire crane world – I am convinced of that. “
