PWP | the latest generation of GEISMAR track laying gantries, which has won acclaim in Central Europe

The tests carried out in March 2019 on the first turnout gantries (PWP) were successful. This summer, the Hungarian contractor HOMLOK placed an order for 2 gantries to be able to lay switches and crossings directly from tilting wagons. The gains in terms of safety and productivity will enable them to effectively implement the national track renewal program.

For many years, the range of GEISMAR gantry cranes, allowing the laying of tracks and switches, has been constantly evolving and continues to present undeniable advantages both in terms of efficiency and safety on construction sites.

• The gantries improve worksite safety by adjusting all track-laying movements (lifting, slewing) to the nearest millimeter with a radio control. Any human contact with the machines is avoided and there is no swinging movement of the loads, as on a crane.
• They facilitate the preparation of the track laying work by combining the number of synchronized gantries according to the type and length of track or switches and crossings to be laid. Without a cabin, these gantries provide an overview of the construction site area and are capable of unloading on single or double track.
• They improve worksite productivity by carefully repeating a track laying methodology on each section laid, without necessarily requiring a temporary track, thanks to lorries with caterpillars. The track laying accuracy is then of the order of a millimeter.
• Thanks to their modular configuration, they contribute to the control of equipment investments. This makes them particularly flexible and competitive for all types of worksites, all types of equipment to be laid and therefore all types of budgets. In particular, their transport is simply carried out on standard trucks or wagons and thanks to the synchronization of the gantries, the number of operators is limited.

In these uncertain economic times, the new PWP track laying solutions complete the machine fleet of our customers (PEM, LEM, LMC…). In addition to unloading from a tilting wagon (WPA type), PWP gantry cranes can also be combined with an SP2V solution to unload and lay panels and switches without the need for a temporary track. GEISMAR installation methodologies are evolving to adapt to the new constraints of construction sites. The lightest gantries on the market, our machines perfectly respect the railway gauges.

Let’s hope this new generation of gantry cranes will follow the commercial success achieved with PEM gantry cranes: more than 500 units sold worldwide for nearly 25 years.

We warmly thank HOMLOK for their confidence in our new track laying solutions and congratulate the GEISMAR Provence teams for their technical achievement.