Out on track with Stobart Rail

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Stobart Rail owns one of the only operational Track Go4 in Britain. This machine is second to none when it comes to ballast renewals on either plain line or S&C.

Old ballast is removed from the site and replaced with new without the need to remove the track and sleepers. In good conditions the Go4 can remove in excess of 400m of ballast in a 12 hour shift.

Whilst the machine is removing the ballast a team of road rail excavators and a p/way team are working alongside to replace the ballast and to check the track geometry and tamp the ballast.

The applications that this machine can carry out are endless. A top team from Stobart recently lowered the track at a site near London following a problem with a drain that had been leaking for a long time.

This caused the track to move. Stobart Rail went in with the Go4 by road, accessed the track at a RRAP and removed excess ballast to lower the track.

New ballast was then put down and the track tamped to the correct geometry.

This was all achieved within a 20 hr possession and the main line reopened back to line speed, this would not have been achieved in the tight time scales if the track had been taken out and a conventional dig carried out.

Liebher A900ZW is a low ride machine. This machine has engineering acceptance enabling it to work with four trailers. It has a gross towing weight of 96 tonnes.

This configuration is ideal when working alongside other RRVs and for delivering materials when the furthest away trailers are either unloaded by a second machine or by man power.

The machine is also fitted with an offset boom which again is great asset when carrying out drainage work on trackside and in tunnels.

When this machine was upgraded to Ris1530PLT it was fitted with additional Prolec equipment which allows working under live OHLE.

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