This Bridge Building Machine Is Going To Change The World
Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. That isn’t a giant steel caterpillar rolling down the track; it’s the SLJ 900/32 Segmental Bridge Launching Machine. And it’s changed the world of bridge building forever. But where on earth did this machine come from, how efficiently does it build bridges, and how will it influence the future of construction? The SLJ900/32 was created by a Beijing firm known as the Beijing Wowjoint Machinery Company. As long as pylons are properly installed, the SLJ900/32 can extend past the pre-made bridge segment to lay down a further segment.
The advance legs of the Segmental Bridge Launching Machine hooks onto the advance pillars of the bridge section and uses that as support to bring a new section of bridge to the right area. Workers are merely there to look on and ensure the machine is okay. Otherwise, it’s almost a purely automatic process.
Right now, there’s only one Segmental Bridge Launching Machine. Undoubtedly, the Beijing Wowjoint Machinery Company is developing more to expand China’s growing rail and highway system – but what about other parts of the world? For centuries, the biggest impediment to rail has been the cost to produce it and keep it.
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Machines like the Segmental Bridge Launching Machine showcase a new world of possibilities where machines can build the costly bridge segments. This means, in places like India,
Machines like the Segmental Bridge Launching Machine showcase a new world of possibilities where machines can build the costly bridge segments. This means, in places like India, a solution exists to their decaying continental rail system.
Countries like Russia and even poorer regional interests could now have access to efficient bridges and roads to connect commerce that much easier. Rail has traditionally been the cheapest way to ship goods, but it’s always been limited by location and locale. Machines like the Segmental Bridge Launching Machine almost assure a future filled with new places to build towards and new rail to lay.
It’s Not Just Building Bridges Or Rails Either
Weighing in at over 580 tons, this 300-foot-long, 24-foot-wide mega monstrosity is no idle feat. It takes several rail carts to get it to its final destination and then a dedicated crew to assemble, check, and maintain this behemoth known as the SLJ 900/32. According to Auto Evolution, “On average, launching machines erect around 730 spans in a lifetime, with almost 40% of gantries assembling more than 1,000. Over 70% of the launching gantries have a service life of at least four years, with most of them having a capacity of between 800 to 950 tons.” So each bridge section this machine creates has a service life of a little bit over four years before needing replacement or repair. On the surface, that doesn’t sound like much of a feat until you consider that normal bridge construction and repair has a similar lifespan between service. The biggest problem is that many countries (including the US) don’t have the budget to regularly repair and upgrade their bridges after construction. That means the squeaky wheel (or bridge segment) may not indeed get the grease.
Bridge building machines like the SLJ 900/32 have a very unique place in the future of road construction. Now, they just need to build a machine that repairs the bridges after they’ve been built. It’s hard to allocate the time, money, and resources to check up on all the roads which have been built in the past four years, because as countries like China, India, and others expand outwards at break-neck speeds, there’s often neither the time nor the budget to do a good solid check of the machinery or the roads. Ultimately, going into the future, we could see machines like the SLJ 900/32 perhaps cooperating with a similar 3D printer of road work and concrete. We need machines that work together and inter-operate to create a lasting structure. One day, we may reach a time where autonomous drivers drive down a road created by autonomous machines. There may even be regularly patrolling machines which spot for weak points in the infrastructure of these long arching bridges to ensure people and cargo are safely transported.
This is the beginning of a bright new age for the world of road and bridge construction. Similar to the behemoths they use to drill beneath the ocean floor to create large expansive tunnel networks for international cargo transport, the SLJ900/32 is a proud step into the future of connecting us all together globally. We’re still faced with incredible obstacles when it comes to ensuring that machines like this one are able to work consistently and safely – and that’s something we’ll only know for sure through the actual use of machines like the Segmental Bridge Launching Machine.
Have you gotten a chance to see the Segmental Bridge Launching Machine in action? Do you feel safe knowing that a giant machine builds the bridges you drive over? Tell us about your opinions in the comments section below.
