Demag duo lifts locomotive

4 November 2019

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Crane service provider Mordefroy Levage decided to use its Demag AC 100-4L and AC 140 cranes for the tandem lift of a 34t TGV locomotive onto a track at the Technicentre SNCF in Romilly-sur-Seine, France.

 “The two Demag cranes had more than the performance characteristics required for this job, not to mention that they work like a charm together, so it was only natural for us to use them,” general manager Patrick Mordefroy explained after mentioning that his company performed the lifts on behalf of French railway company SNCF.

Everything that the two cranes needed for the tandem lift fit on one single transportation truck, meaning that on-site setup was completed very quickly – it only took the three-person Mordefroy team one hour to get it done.

When loading the locomotive onto a lowbed trailer, the Mordefroy team was lucky to be working with ideal conditions and ample space. That changed entirely when unloading the locomotive at the new Technicentre SNCF in Romilly-sur-Seine, as the space conditions there were much tighter.

However, the team’s experience and the cranes’ compact design made it possible to easily overcome this challenge. In order to prepare for the lift, the 34t, 22m-long locomotive was first positioned parallel to the track with the lowbed trailer and was then slung at the front and rear with spreader beams in order to provide the required controllability during the lift.

The Demag AC 100-4L picked up the front of the locomotive with its hook at a radius of 13m so that it had to handle a total weight of 16t, while the Demag AC 140 worked at a radius of 14m and took care of the remaining 18t. With this configuration, the two cranes lifted the load to a height of 12m and moved it right over the track perfectly synchronized. After this, they set down the locomotive and placed it precisely on the track. The Mordefroy team needed a total of eight hours to complete the job.