UNIMOG CONTRA ANDREA

4x4magazine | 20/01/2012 | 0 Comments

In early 2012, the tropical cyclone “Andrea” brought particular challenges for the Unimog fleet operated out of the Felsenau depot near Feldkirch/Frastanz, Austria which is responsible for road maintenance services on some two-thirds of the roads in the Vorarlberg region.

The Mercedes-Benz Unimog is in all-year-round use in the Austrian Vorarlberg region: snow clearing, road and crash barrier cleaning as well as grass verge mowing duties have been undertaken for many years now with the help of the “Universal-Motor-Gerät”.
More than ten metres of fresh snow fell on the Arlberg pass, the most important link between Austria’s most westerly region and Innsbruck, taking the highway maintenance authorities by surprise. The situation was similarly dramatic in the Montafon region, over towards the Silvretta high Alpine road, in the Great Walser Valley and on the Flexen route towards Zürs and Lech. The only vehicle up to the task was the 210kW (286hp) Unimog U 500 fitted with a Schmidt 105 front-end snow cutter – clearing width 2.60 metres. This combination proved extremely effective in clearing the exceptional volume of snow from the roads.
The metre-high banks of snow on either side of the road demand precision work from the Unimog’s driver. It is in situations like this that the transferable steering system VarioPilot and the 4-wheel steering system really come into their own. With 4‑wheel steering the Unimog becomes considerably more manoeuvrable than it already is, while its turning circle is reduced by up to 30 percent. It means that the snow cutter can clear bends far more quickly these days. Before the advent of 4-wheel steering, it was necessary to begin by cutting extra bays into a bend in order to achieve the necessary curve radius. It was a long-winded process that involved a lot of turning and forward and backward manoeuvres. Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks now offers this unique technology as a variant for Unimog, Econic and all municipal and fire-fighting vehicles.
The exemplary way in which the snow on the Arlberg was cleared – and the cost-effectiveness of this approach for the operator – also became a talking point among Alpine winter maintenance experts from across Europe. A stream of experts have since made their way to the Vorarlberg to see the benefits of a Unimog with 4-wheel steering being demonstrated on the Arlberg Pass.