German lifting equipment company Pfaff-silberblau, which is based in Kissing, Bavaria, has secured the contracts for underfloor lifting systems and mobile lifting jacks for use on the Riyadh Metro with all three consortiums working on the $22.5bn project.
The lifting systems provided by the firm’s rail technology division, Pfaff-silberblau Verkehrstechnik, will as a result be used for all maintenance work on the subway trains that will soon ply the routes of the six metro lines and 176km rail network.
The underfloor lifting systems and mobile lifting jacks produced by the Pfaff-silberblau’s engineering specialists can perform a synchronised lift of complete metro trains with a gross weight of up to 144t to ergonomic working heights.
The systems also meet strict European safety standards for vehicle lifting platforms, like DIN EN 1493.
“We are very proud of the fact that we were able to convince all three consortiums working on the Riyadh Public Transport Project with our engineering and our specialist knowledge,” says Peter Zeller, MD of Pfaff-silberblau Verkehrstechnik.
“We know from years of experience that with a project of this size it is important to provide not only lifting systems that meet the customer’s demands in terms of capability, reliability and safety, but also in-depth knowledge and reliability on the part of the project team in all stages of the work.”
The completion of the Riyadh Metro is planned for 2019, but the factory acceptance testing for the Pfaff-silberblau systems has already begun, and the supply and installation of the lifting systems and lifting jacks is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016.
The project’s driverless trains are being manufactured by Siemens, Bombardier/Ansaldo and Alstom.
Pfaff-silberblau is an affiliated company of the US-based Columbus McKinnon Corporation (CMCO), which worldwide has more than 2,600 employees across 18 production sites in seven countries.