MSG Krandienst’s new all-terrain crane, the Grove GMK6400-1, impressed everyone with its outstanding performance during its first job — recovering a derailed train.

A Grove GMK6400-1 is the latest fleet addition for crane rental company MSG Krandienst. It went to its first job — recovering a derailed train car — the day after arriving at its new home.

Yannick Kempf is the MSG Krandienst operator on the new crane, and he was full of praise for it:

"The controls are so intuitive on the GMK6400-1 that I was immediately able to operate it. It was great to be able to test the new addition on a job site the day after it arrived."

The derailed train car weighed 75 tons and was broken into two 37.5 ton sections for extraction. There also was a large fence between it and the closest spot for a salvage trailer.

The job required a powerful, maneuverable crane with enough boom to reach over the fence. There also was pressure to get the job completed as quickly as possible to allow the rail tracks to get back to normal operation.

With a capacity of 441 tons and load charts that surpass other six-axle cranes, the GMK6400-1 provides an ideal combination of strength and agility required for salvage operations, according to the manufacturer. It also offers the MegaWingLift attachment, which boosts capacity and can be installed in under 20 minutes, making it perfect for time-sensitive recovery jobs.

The crane's intuitive handling and CCS (Crane Control System) facilitated the smooth and successful completion of the job. For the salvage work, the GMK6400-1 was configured with a 147 ft. boom and 126 tons of counterweight. The lifts were managed at a 78.7 ft. radius, and the entire project was wrapped up within a day.

The MSG Krandienst fleet is nicknamed BIG BLUE POWER for its striking blue color scheme and includes a number of Grove units. MSG Krandienst offers more than 25 customer-focused solutions across the lifting, transportation, and logistics segments from its headquarters in southern Germany.

"We're consistently expanding our lifting capacity with mobile cranes, which currently range from 40 to 800 t. We've acquired over 50 cranes in recent years, divided between our two branches in southern Germany and our cross-border location in France," said Björn Jatz, general manager at MSG.

"We guarantee efficient and low-cost solutions for a wide range of projects through our team of experts and our extensive range of machinery. Our motto is 'Badisch-Sympathisch', which means our team is always at your service for customers."

The GMK6400-1 was sold to MSG Krandienst by KranAgentur Werner.

This story also appears on Crane Equipment Guide.

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