USA: Universal Transport Group is managing the delivery of 25 ALP45-DP locomotives which NJ Transit ordered from Bombardier Transportation.
The electro-diesel locomotives are being produced at the Kassel factory in Germany. Universal Transport Group’s project forwarder Züst & Bachmeier is responsible for organising and handling transport from the factory to the USA, with StB Verkehrstechnik preparing the route and organising escorts.
Planning and preparation took more than a year. The locomotives are not suitable for moving on the German rail network, and so are being transported 360 km by road from the factory to the port of Hamburg. The journey takes four nights, and requires the removal of road signs, cutting back trees and careful negotiation of curves. The height is a particular challenge, with the locomotive body plus the low-loader being 4·50 m tall leaving only a few centimetres of clearance under bridges.
Universal Transport is using a specially designed 68 m long, 14-axle low loader which can carry up to 160 tonnes. This is lower than conventional trailers so that higher loads can be carried, and railway vehicles can be loaded across a ramp without needing a crane. Universal Transport said there are only a few low loaders of similar design worldwide, and most have significantly lower payloads.
The bogies are fitted in Hamburg, and the loco loaded onto a roll-on, roll-off ship for delivery to the USA where the first arrived in January
‘This is a perfect example of our performance and capabilities’, said Hans Unger, Managing Director at Züst & Bachmeier Project. ‘We can handle complex transport projects like this smoothly and all from a single source.’
