Impressive crane job on the banks of the Rhine

Specialists from heavy load logistics provider and crane operator Wasel in Bergheim completed an impressive job in the summer on the Rhine near Dinslaken using two Liebherr LTM 1500-8.1 mobile cranes. Two 138-metre-tall electricity pylons had to be shortened and their mastheads rebuilt within the scope of renovation works. In addition to their own 500-tonner, Wasel deployed another LTM 1500-8.1 from Cologne-based crane rental company HKV Schmitz + Partner to complete the job, which required simultaneously working on both sides of the river.

The two LTM 1500-8.1s had to complete the first part of the work simultaneously. Before dismantling the upper cross-beams, the transmission lines were simultaneously detached from both masts and slowly lowered to a height of around 50 metres, before being temporarily suspended on the masts' framework structures. Shipping traffic on this section of the river had been completely suspended for this phase of the work.

Afterwards, industrial climbers and crane crews worked for two days to dismantle the old mastheads and steel framework, and to erect the new mastheads at a height of almost one hundred metres.

At the time of their construction in 1926, the masts of the “Rhine Overhead Transmission Line Crossing Voerde” were among the tallest electricity pylons in the world, spanning the Rhine over a distance of more than 500 metres. Björn Kröger , project manager at grid operator Amprion explains: “In anticipation of huge sailing ships, the high-voltage line was cautiously situated at such a great height over the Rhine in the 1920s.”