Pro Rail Services is a family-owned business, established in 2012 in Rudgwick, in West Sussex. Customers include Network Rail, Balfour Beatty, BAM Nuttall, and Keltbray Rail.

Operations manager Richard Rowell is responsible for the plant & haulage division, which includes RRVs, civil engineering plant and on track plant. He is also in charge of the operators, purchasing, haulage and logistics planning for all projects. 

This week The Construction Index Live team, are onsite at Euro Auction in Leeds. Livestream across three sites, showing a massive selection of Euro Auctions unreserved heavy construction and industrial plant.

Watch day one in full

 

And according to Caterpillar, they’ve achieved it. The bulldozer has an all-new fully-automatic four-speed transmission, delivering up to 18 percent more productivity without consuming more fuel. Added blade capacity, increased power and steering performance, and a full range of technology options help customers move more material in less time, at a lower cost per tonne, generating a faster return on equipment investment

Much of the productivity gain comes from the new transmission. The powertrain continuously optimises the dozer for maximum power and greatest efficiency based on the load. There is no need for the operator to upshift/downshift – the added gear and seamless lock-up clutch engagement ensure smooth shifting, Caterpillar says.

Demolition News reported at the time that closure of DRS had more to do with the failure of owner David Shrigley’s marriage to third wife and fellow director Donna Shrigley than to any failings in the business.

A month later David’s son Darren Shrigley, steeped in demolition culture, set up Demolition South West Ltd (DSW) to fill the void.

The two companies are together developing and testing various concepts and prototypes in the ‘Safer@Work’ research project. For example, they recently tested a people detection system at two Colas sites in Switzerland: an asphalt plant and a quarry. The system uses artificial intelligence (AI) to alert the operator when a person is detected in the vicinity of the machine. It incorporates different warning systems, both for the operator and for people in the area surrounding the machine.

Volvo engineers were already developing the integrated AI algorithm and it was further improved during the Safer@Work project. The prototype is one of three operator assist concepts that Volvo CE has been collaborating on with Colas since 2016. They are now at the stage of assessing viability for the industry. Plans to industrialise it under investigation.