Pictured: Unit Transporting Lengths Of Cement Wrapped Steel Gas Pipes During Testing
ROAD TRANSPORT OF RAIL LINE
POTENTIALLY HALF THE COST
Slingshot Haulage Pty Ltd, has been working on a rail by road transport trailer design to streamline the road transport of rail throughout Australia. The work began in 2011 when Slingshot Haulage was approached to come up with a more economical way to transport rail by road.
After eight years of design, development, a prototype being built and a world-wide patent, the unit has now been passed by NHVR (National Heavy Vehicle Regulator) and has Performance Based Standards (PBS) vehicle approval. When the route takes the unit onto roads not covered by PBS approval, route assessment will be required on a case by case basis.
PBS APPROVED
The unit can carry a pay load of approximately 40 tonne of up to 27.5 metre lengths of rail across all states on approved double road train routes, with no pilots. The beauty of this design allows the unit to manoeuvre much more efficiently carrying twice the weight of the currently used extendable trailer method.
Pictured: Testing turning limits, minimums and maximums.
With this design Slingshot Haulage has been successful in producing a more economical method of road transport for rail, which potentially halves the cost of the currently used extendable trailer method.
The transport of rail by road carried for the Alice Springs to Darwin Rail Project in 2001-2003 was undertaken by Slingshot Haulage. The company built special road train trailers for the project which transported 145,000 tonnes of 27.5 metre lengths of rail from Alice Springs to Tennant Creek and Katherine.