The important role of the railway sector is to provide the circulation of people and goods, and the help of cranes is indispensable during the transfer process of various types of goods. In order to better provide customers with high-quality services, we need to know more about the working conditions of cranes in the railway sector.

Two projects for the Spanish railway sector

In the first project, the crane manufacturer supplied a range of cranes to the manufacturing facility of Talgo, a leading company in the design, manufacture and maintenance of railway equipment. This batch of cranes includes an 8+8t double-girder crane with a span of 23.5m, a 1t jib crane with a boom length of 4m, and a 40t, 19m long travelling crane.

At the second project, Spain’s national Railway Infrastructure Administrator (ADIF) introduced a 2-4-2 type rail-mounted portal container crane at its logistical centre at Irún, to modernise the loading and unloading logistics system for international traffic.

What we learned from this case

So far we have rarely provided crane services to railway departments in various countries, but from the cases we can feel that the work content is similar. The role of the crane is to provide suitable lifting methods according to the different working conditions of the customer. We can provide suitable lifting equipment for the lifting services such as cargo transfer and equipment maintenance required by the railway department. Among various types of cranes, the bridge cranes we design and manufacture are particularly widely used. Through systematic summary, we roughly get the following conclusions:

Where bridge cranes can play a role in the rail transport sector:

• Railway maintenance: Railway lines are the basis of daily operations, but they are also subject to various hazards, such as humidity-induced rotting of wooden materials and minor damage and cracks in high-speed rail lines. Bridge cranes can easily transport various equipment and tools during maintenance to cope with these problems.
• Moving large equipment: The railway transportation department often needs to move large equipment and materials. Bridge cranes can use their powerful lifting capabilities to move these heavy equipment from one place to another quickly and accurately.
• Loading and unloading cargo: In railway freight stations, bridge cranes are widely used for loading and unloading cargo, which greatly improves the efficiency and safety of loading and unloading.
• Lifting bridges and heavy components: In railway construction or maintenance projects, overhead cranes are often used to lift bridges or heavy components, speeding up project progress with their high efficiency and precision.
• Storage and management: In railway warehouses and yards, bridge cranes are used to move goods from storage areas to transport vehicles, or move goods between different areas to achieve efficient management and storage.