Accompanied by a police escort from the L&S workshop to the A9 motorway slip road, the latest product from L&S – the heavyweight inspection vehicle MIV 1-25 – started its journey to Brazil yesterday. There, it will be received by the Canadian customer company Bombardier and assigned to its intended use: equipped with multifunctional maintenance tools it will be used in future for inspection and repair work on the new, fully automated monorail lines in the metropolis Sao Paulo. The ultra-modern monorail train system, which runs on a single concrete track, will soon be put into operation for the transportation of passengers and will be extended section by section. Thus, a monorail system with the highest transportation density of the world is being created, which will carry up to 48,000 passengers per hour in two directions.

With the use of the MIV 1-25 vehicle weighing 25 tons, the railway network can be checked for possible damage via camera and GPS function. Simultaneously, the vehicle can be used as a mobile repair workshop by means of which the four-person expert crew can carry out maintenance work on the railway system. On each side the machine is equipped with a height-adjustable working platform, which can be lowered to the track. Furthermore, the vehicle has a lifting platform allowing repair work at a height of up to 6 m and a pivoting crane which lifts up to 500 kg with its largest boom. The air-conditioned driver’s cab as well as the paintwork and the technical components of the vehicle are adapted for the use under tropical conditions.

While the MIV 1-25 is now on its journey, work is continuing on its sister vehicle, MRV 1-25, which has an almost identical design and will be expected in Riyadh/Saudi Arabia in the middle of this year.