Terberg Benschop News

Terberg vehicles in Switzerland / Seaport technology in the mountains

Monday, December 27th 2010

Six Terberg vehicles are working at high altitudes in Switzerland. It is an inhospitable area. The site can only be reached with a temporary funicular. Tractors of the type Terberg RT222 and Terberg CC-RT222 are transporting construction materials, for instance in a 600 meters long tunnel, deep into the mountain. Marti Tunnelbau AG is building a new hydropower plant between two lakes. The work will be completed in 2016.

Terberg Roro tractors have a sounding name at sea-level, in harbours all over the world. At Marti Tunnelbau AG six Terberg vehicles prove that the product from Benschop also can move mountains at high altitudes. Marti Tunnelbau AG started the expansion of the hydro-Linth Limmern in Linthal late last year. The new plant will increase the production capacity of 460 MW to 1450 MW. By comparison, the largest hydroelectric plant in the Dutch river Maas  at the weir of Lith has an installed capacity of 14.5 MW. The nuclear power plant in Borssele has a capacity of 485 MW which is about average in the Netherlands. Only plants that are under construction have a power similar to Limmern. The new power station in Maasbracht will supply 1275 MW (2012), the plant in Eemshaven gets a capacity of 1,600 MW (2013).

Pumped storage
The new plant in Limmern is a so-called pumped storage hydroelectric power plant. A pump station is capable of handling the flow of falling water to generate electricity and, when the demand for electricity is decreasing, to pump the water back to the upper reservoir. The power house is being hacked out into the mountain near the Limmernsee in the Glarus Canton. This lake is located at 1857 meters above sea level. The nearby Muttsee is the highest reservoir in Europe, at 2574 meters. This height is comparable to the Great St Bernard Pass to Italy (2469 m), which in winter is closed for traffic. This indicates that the work at this altitude in Switzerland is not easy. Therefore, the consortium with Marti as the prime contractor, has set up its own avalanche department to monitor the safety of the workers. The work on the Muttsee consists of the construction of a dam of one kilometre length and 35 meters height, to increase the storage capacity of the lake. In the mountain, various tunnels are drilled. The 600 meters long tunnel to access the power plant has been completed already. From this underground space two parallel tunnels are now drilled to bring the water to the generators.

Terberg
Terberg vehicles were carried up by the temporary cableway with a capacity of 25 tons, which, over a length of nearly two kilometres, bridges an altitude of more than 1000 meters. This cableway will be completely torn down when the work is finished in 2016. The vehicles are working in a tunnel to create the connection between the two reservoirs. The tunnel has limited space. That is precisely why the Terberg vehicles, with their tight turning circle, have been chosen. The four Terberg RT222 (4x4) Roro tractors work with trailers which cannot turn in the tunnel. The tractors can. Therefore, the trailers have a fifth wheel on both sides. The two container carriers of type Terberg CC-RT222 (4x4) are equipped with a exchange system to move containers or to transport concrete. Marti Tunnelbau AG now has a new assignment to modernize a hydropower plant in the Wallis (Valais) canton and is going to deploy Terberg vehicles there too.

← previous page