Borger Cranes and Rigging Services recently put the newly acquired Liebherr LTM 1650-8.1 through its paces on a Queensland Rail infrastructure project, the upgrade of the Auchenflower Station in Brisbane.
The station’s upgrade is part of Queensland’s State Government’s $300 million Rail Station Accessibility Upgrade Program which will see accessibility upgrades to 14 high priority stations across a five-year period.
The Liebherr LTM 1650-8.1 was deployed to lift the station’s new pedestrian overpass for MC Engineering, on behalf of John Holland and Queensland Rail.
The overpass weighed 48t and with 7t of rigging the total lift weighed 56t says Borger Cranes and Rigging Services Supervisor, Casey Doyle.
“We had the LTM1650 configured with 155t of counterweight with 52m Main Boom & Y Guyed, with variable counterweight options from 8.4m – 7.4m – 6.4m. The pick radius was 26m with the 8.4m counterweight position. The load radius was then reduced to 23m, before re-positioning the variable counterweight to 6.4m whilst the load remained suspended. The entire counterweight re-positioning process took only 45 seconds.
“The repositioning enabled us to hoist the load above the overhead rail services and slew it into the install location. All this occurred whilst maintaining the required clearances from overhead powerlines beside the crane. The Liebherr LTM 1650-8.1 is the only crane in the country which could support these lift requirements,” said Doyle.
Borger Cranes and Rigging worked closely with Ben Fitzgerald and the team from Queensland Rigging Hire, who provided additional local rigging solutions including spreader bars.
The lift presented many obstacles including very tight & steep site access. The set-up location featured overhead power lines, which had been de-energised by John Holland and ‘spotters’ were onsite to maintain exclusion zones throughout the mobilisation, lift & demobilisation processes.
“The teams from MC Engineering and John Holland did an outstanding job in firstly transporting the overpass in 2 sections to site, then joining and raising them to the level lift location. This made our job a little easier,” said Doyle.
“John Holland proceeded to build a lift pad/platform over Auchenflower Terrace for the LTM1650 which was impeccable, the engineering & installation teams did an outstanding job. The NSW and QLD crews from Borger Cranes outperformed expectations with assistance from Mactrans Heavy Haulage. We were operating in very tricky conditions and extreme weather added to the onsite constraints, over what was a short weekend of lift windows.
“We worked closely with all parties involved in the project and thanks to the meticulous planning, the lifts were completed without a hitch. The performance of the Liebherr LTM1650-8.1 was outstanding, it is quite a crane, and I can see it being well utilised on numerous infrastructure projects and heavy lifts well into the future,” said Doyle.