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A Sennebogen 6130 HD duty cycle crawler crane is said to be being successfully used by Gral Schotter to extract gravel near Graz, Austria. In the Wundschuh gravel pit, the 6130 HD model is working in dragline bucket operation. At an extraction depth of 13m the crawler crane is said to be penetrating particularly hard layers, a key reason why Gral Schotter was keen to use a duty cycle crawler crane of its size. An impressive 354kW is provided by the model’s diesel engine. The 6130 HD’s two powerful winches e

Financing from Taiwan will help develop road infrastructure in Guatemala. Both the Taiwanese Government and private Taiwanese sources are supplying funding streams to Guatemala for transport infrastructure development. The Taiwanese Government is donating US$50 million to help improve the section of the Atlantico road connecting Sanarate and El Rancho. Taiwan is also providing a further $50 million in the shape of a loan for the project. This loan will be repayable over a 20 year period. The Atlantico road

Financing for a road project in Mozambique is being provided by a bank in India. The Exim Bank of India is proving a line of credit worth some US$147.7 million for the road upgrade project. Mozambique is seeing steady investment in its infrastructure and this latest project will improve transport links in the country.

There is “no reason for any worries” in the global construction equipment and building material manufacturing industry despite a lack of growth in 2013, according to the German-based VDMA association. In a release issued after the association’s summer board meeting in Hameln, northern Germany, a VDMA spokesperson said, “Bauma, the industry’s leading international fair held in April, in particular helped to change the industry’s mood significantly. Directly or indirectly it led to a great number of new order

As this video clip shows, efficient bridge demolition work has a lot to do with effective planning. Bringing down this defunct bridge over a busy highway called for careful planning so as to minimise traffic disruption. Proper preparation allowed engineers to make the site ready for a closure of the highway, with the bridge then being brought down within a tight timeframe. Having sufficient excavators fitted with hydraulic breakers was a key component in ensuring that the work could be carried out in time,

The French government is considering lowering the national speed limit from 130km/h to 120km/h on motorways and from 90km/h to 80km/h on roads. The move, being led by Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls, comes after the recent announcement of a drop in the number of deaths on roads in France during the first half of 2013.

According to a study conducted by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) on 5,248 drivers from 2009 until 2012, the nation’s women drivers are angrier than men but experience fewer road deaths and crashes. Overall, 18% of the 13.3 million registered drivers in the country are categorised as ‘high-anger’ drivers.

FEHRL, the partnership organisation for national road research centres, has established a new road infrastructure innovation forum. This is intended as a focus for road innovations that can then be developed through FEHRL’s Infravation and related programmes. This portal is not for research proposals but is instead intended to aid in identifying the possible impact, benefits and time to delivery of innovations for road construction and maintenance as well as possible applications for other modes. The Infrav

The UK Government is pledging to invest heavily in new engine technologies. This strategy is intended to keep the UK as a technology leader in the field of engine developments, with a particular focus on the automotive sector. The plans are to develop new, low emission vehicles using innovative powertrain systems, such as plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles. In all some €1.156 billion (£1 billion) has been pledged by the UK Government over the next 10 years for investment in research a

The city of Brussels is considering the introduction of a €3 (US$3.93)congestion zone charge – which could generate up to US$587.86 million (€450mn) a year.

Globally renowned formwork technology firm Doka has laid the foundation stone for its new logistics centre for Germany. The new 11.4 hectare facility, being built within an industrial estate on the B 87 highway near the town of Apolda in Thuringia, is earmarked for completion by the end of this year. The first phase will initially create around 40 new jobs. The Doka Group is investing around US$18.28 million (€14mn) in this initial phase, as part of the ongoing development of its worldwide distribution and

Massive plans for infrastructure investment have been revealed in Peru. The country’s transportation and communications ministry, MTC, intends to invest some US$20 billion in infrastructure by 2016. Public private partnerships will be used to develop many of the planned projects. Transport infrastructure figures heavily in the plans, with spending on highways, the Chinchero-Cuzco airport and Callao’s Jorge Chávez airport, and additions to Lima’s metro network. One of the key road projects will be for the Lo

From 2014 the police in the UK will be able to use drug testing kits to check if drivers are under the influence while at the wheel. After consultation with medical experts, limits have been set for quantities of illegal and legal drugs that are permissible in the bloodstream while a driver is in control of a motor vehicle. Tests have already been carried out on different types of drug testing kits that use saliva samples to determine whether a person is under the influence. These kits have already been int

New data from Germany and Portugal reveals continued improvement in road safety, with a reduction in fatality levels for both countries. Final figures from the German Federal Statistics Office, Destatis, reveal a reduction in road related deaths for 2012. Some 3,600 people died on Germany’s roads in 2012, a 10.2% drop from the previous year. Meanwhile for the first six months of 2013, some 227 people were killed in vehicle crashes in Portugal, a drop of 18% compared with the previous year.