Work on the infrastructure project to extend the four-track railway line from Karlsruhe to Basel has been underway at full speed in south-west Germany for years. In the region south of Freiburg im Breisgau, work on the tracks and overhead lines is almost complete. Large sections of the new and upgraded line are currently being fitted with noise barriers.
An MK 88-4.1E mobile construction crane from Arthur Bannasch Transporte GmbH in Wyhl am Kaiserstuhl has installed noise protection elements on the busy railway line in Müllheim, Baden. A mobile crane with a telescopic boom would not have been able to carry out this work due to the conditions on site. The only crane site that did not obstruct traffic was in the immediate vicinity of a six metre high street lighting mast. It was also not necessary to close the road to vehicle traffic, as the crane did not affect the road's clearance gauge due to its design.
Crane operator controls from the track bed
"I had to use my crane to install around 30 elements, each weighing 900 kilograms, for the new noise barrier. The largest radius was 43 metres," explains Steffen Held, who has been operating the modern mobile construction crane for Bannasch for two years. However, the heaviest components were the steel wall frames, which were installed by the MK 88-4.1E with a gross load of around 2.8 tonnes at distances of up to 36 metres. Steffen Held controlled his crane from the ground during this job. He was always present on the newly constructed track bed when positioning the loads. "Firstly, I can guide the load very precisely from here when threading it into the racks and secondly, we were able to work very quickly because I could lend a hand when unhooking the load. I did the slinging all by myself anyway. Only one other worker from the construction company was needed for the entire operation. The two tracks being worked on were not yet open to rail traffic. However, there was a lot of train traffic behind the newly installed noise barrier. "With my crane control system, I can programme the crane so that the trolley and slewing gear are limited in such a way that the load does not cross the tracks with active train traffic. That is of course a major safety aspect."
Steffen Held almost prefers to operate his crane by remote control during assembly work. When installing large air conditioning systems, he sometimes leaves the crane cab and navigates the heavy equipment directly at the installation site. Held appreciates this precision when guiding the load. He also appreciates being able to access site power for his crane during his work. "Whenever I spot a site power distributor on the construction site, I ask if I can plug in there," he explains. He always has a 15 metre three-phase cable for 32 A with him in his mobile construction crane. "Everyone on the construction site is always delighted and enjoys the silence."
"We always have enough work for our two MK88-4.1s," says Armin Bannasch, Managing Director and son of company founder Arthur Bannasch. "The cranes are mostly used for green roofs, the construction of prefabricated houses, steel erection and, increasingly, for the installation of air conditioning units." His driver adds: "And in winter, tree felling is increasingly on my programme. With the 45 metre boom, I can get very deep into the gardens from the road." In addition to the two mobile construction cranes, the company operates a fleet of vehicles for transport tasks as well as two new smaller Liebherr mobile cranes and several lorries with loader cranes.
