German crane hire company, Thömen Schwertransport und Krantechnik, has utilised the largest crawler crane in its fleet to complete over-100-tonne lifts on a new bridge in Berlin.
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The company deployed its Liebherr LR 1800-1.0 to complete the lifts for chief contractors Deutsche Bahn, the national railway company in Germany, who are responsible for the expansion of the rail network in Berlin and Brandenburg. Thömen was awarded the contract back in May 2023 to conduct two lifts to assemble a new bridge that carry the Berlin S-Bahn, a rapid transit railway system in and around Berlin, over the suburb of Niemetzstraße.
For the job, Thömen assembled the crane with 90 tonnes of central ballast, 230 tonnes of slewing platform ballast, and a 42m main boom. According to Thömen’s operations manager, Jens Hoffmeister, the surrounding area to set up the crane was “very cramped”, meaning a tight logistical process was needed to assemble the LR 1800-1.0.
“There were no storage facilities for the crane parts,” he said. “The assembly was carried out directly from the lorry to the crane, which required seamless logistical planning.”
Aiding Hoffmeister and the on-site team in their conquest, however, was Liebherr’s BTT-E wireless remote control that allowed the crane’s superstructure to be configured remotely. In tandem with the LICCON2 control system, the set-up process was a lot more optimal according to Hoffmeister, who praised the remote’s capacity to give the assembly team full visibility of the crane. Further simplifying the crane’s logistical process is its economical and transportable design, possessing a width of three metres and a maximum transport weight of 45 tonnes, with crane operator, Dino Wachsbaum, praising the “entire transport and set-up concept” of the crawler crane as “well thought out”.
After configuring its 800-tonne crawler crane, the Thömen team lifted the first bridge into place, lifting a 125-tonne load at a maximum radius of 25m during a night-time closure of the S-Bahn. For the second lift, the entire load – including hook, rigging, and bridge – weighed in at 160 tonnes that was lifted at a radius of 21m.
“The operation went smoothly, and I’m delighted with the LR 1800-1.0,” said Wachsbaum after completing the lifts. “In general, I’m very satisfied with the overall Liebherr package.”
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