Keltbray Aspire, which is part of Keltbray Group and provides electrification services on the rail infrastructure, has invested £2.2 million in new road-rail vehicles. This is the biggest vehicle investment in the rail electrification industry for nearly a decade, and boosts Keltbray’s existing road-rail fleet which now counts 85 vehicles.

The investment comprises five brand new LRB 17 Road-Rail vehicles from SRS Sjölanders, which have been manufactured in Sweden. They demonstrate Keltbray’s long term commitment to the development of its rail services capabilities, in particular displaying a commitment to Network Rail’s significant investment in rail electrification. The new plant will immediately be deployed on our biggest ever contract secured last year to the value of £46 million, to provide power supply upgrade for Network Rail on the  Phase 3A Power Supply Upgrade Project on the West Coast Main Line.

Managing Director of Keltbray Aspire, David Godley, explained: “Our current fleet is at maximum utilisation, and so these new machines will help reduce the need for us to hire in extra capacity at peak times. These vehicles are also more flexible, they have a 10 metre reach and provide our linesmen with a safe working environment utilising in basket electric and pneumatic tool facilitation. Our new fleet will provide more efficient and flexible machines to keep train downtime and disruption to rail passengers to an absolute minimum.”

SRS Sjölanders AB is the world leading company within the road-rail technology, with more than 40 years’ experience of development, design and manufacturing. According to the company’s Managing Director, Peter Sundström, the UK has historically been one of the company’s largest markets: “It is more than nine years since we last provided new equipment of this kind into the UK market, so we are delighted with this order. The vehicles supplied to Keltbray are key to reducing transport time and increasing working time. They are more user-friendly and have a number of new features, including improved lighting and tool box storage, a state of the art control system and new safety systems to the access platforms, comprising overload protection and protection from fouling the adjacent lines. They can also facilitate additional equipment, such as pantographs and wire lifters, have colour displays that make it easier to position the vehicles and access platforms, while the chassis has a higher level of comfort for drivers and passengers.“

The new vehicles are currently being registered and will be fully operational by the end of May.

ENDS

More information:

Pictures of the new vehicles are available here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/keltbray/8743215995/in/photostream

For more information, please contact Keltbray’s head of communications, Marit Meyer-Bell, on tel. 0786 765 3392 or by email to [email protected]

 

Keltbray Group:

Keltbray is the UK’s leading specialist engineering, construction, decommissioning and environmental services business, providing fully integrated services to meet the needs of diverse and complex projects throughout the country. The company has three main reporting business streams, including Demolition & Civil Engineering, Rail and Environmental Materials Management and dates back to 1976. For more information, see www.keltbray.com