NORWAY: Bergen tramway infrastructure manager Bybanen AS has awarded Windhoff Bahn & Anlagentechnik a NKr58·8m contract to supply a specially-designed VentuS-LR SF50 rail grinding and winter service vehicle.
Based on the manufacturer’s modular VentuS NV platform, the Bergen machine will be equipped battery operation as well as taking power from the operhead line. It will be fitted with a high-precision rail grinding unit and an overhead line de-icer, and will have provision for taking catenary and track measurements. The vehicle will be designed for snow ploughs to be mounted at each end, and to deploy a rotating snow broom. The unit will be powereful enough to haul a flatbed wagon with a crane when ncessary.
Windhoff said it would be ‘contributing to the long-term performance and safety of light rail transport in one of the most challenging climatic regions in Europe.’
The vehicle ‘will be central to both the ongoing maintenance of 32 km of track and seasonal de-icing work and snow removal’, Bybanen AS CEO Geir Østerfeldt explained when the order was announced on July 1.
Noting that works trams were ‘by no means off-the-shelf’, Bybanen project manager Jimmy Schmincke added that the infrastructure manager had worked hard to ensure competition on the basis of price, quality and technical capabilities.
Scheduled to for delivery in 2028, the vehicle is expected to have a service life of 40 years.
