Instead of using a helicopter, Palfinger’s PCC 115.002 crawler crane was able to navigate through almost impassable terrain to remove nine lift supports.
Cable lift construction company Prommegger needed to remove a number of Schlossalmbahn lift supports, located in the Gastein Valley, Austria.
However, to reach them required travelling through an alpine area off-road. In most cases, a helicopter would be called in to handle this, but Prommegger Managing Director, David Prommegger said he was able to avoid this through a partnership with Palfinger.
“We have been thinking about using cranes in off-road terrain since 2009, almost ten years ago,” Prommegger said.
“And then during the Schlossalm project, we stumbled across the Palfinger crawler crane almost by accident.
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“The crane functions as a real alternative to a helicopter. Furthermore, it doesn’t need any additional permits and you can work largely independently of the weather.”
The PCC 115.002 crawler crane was transported to nearby the site by truck, where it was then able to move through difficult terrain by using its crawlers.
During the five-day job, the crane required no assistance at an altitude difference of more than 800 metres and gradients of up to 40 per cent.
Once it had reached a lift support, the crane needed to be positioned and aligned. Operators used the crane’s support feet to compensate for level differences, down to the nearest centimetre, and were able to remove each lift support, which weighed up to a tonne each.
The crane left few traces in the ground, despite its 33-metre reach.
“The crawler crane will be useful for us in the future whenever we have large-scale projects coming up in an environment that is difficult to access,” Prommegger said.
“I’m thinking of road construction in the mountains, but also of the new high-voltage power line.
“This project has a large construction site, where use of the crane would be ideal – particularly as there would be no time pressure because, unlike the helicopter, not every minute of use would be reflected in the bill.”