Guindastec chooses Grove for Brazil monorail

São Paulo-based lifting and logistics company Guindastec is working on laying the track of Brazil’s first monorail. In order to complete the lifting and placing of 2,000 track beams on the ground, Guindastec is working with a Grove GMK5220 all-terrain crane laying the 70-ton track beams across the project site.

Guindastec specifically purchased the GMK5220 model for the monorail project. “We needed a crane that had a very high lifting capacity, but could still be moved easily as the foundation of the tracks progressed,” said Nilson Rocha, commercial director of Guindastec.

The GMK5220 has a 220-ton lifting capacity and a 68 m seven-section boom. Using inserts and a swingaway can further increase the tip height to 108 m. The boom’s Twin-Lock pinning and Megaform design make it more rigid, allowing it to lift heavier loads. A fully automatic Allison transmission and five-axle, independent Megatrak suspension ensure the crane can handle the most rugged jobsites.

Guindastec already operates five other Grove all-terrain cranes and uses them on infrastructure projects across Brazil. It also owns five National Crane 1400A boom trucks.

The first of three monorail lines is a 26 km connection from Villa Prudente to Cidade Tiradentes. In the first phase, the GMK5220 placed 400 concrete track beams. In phase two, which will end at the close of 2013, the crane will lay approximately 1,600 more beams.