74-wheel truck took 1 year to reach Kerala from Maharashtra

If you take road trips, you won’t be able to miss the trucks and especially the slow-moving ones. Well, this is about one such slow-moving truck that mastered covering a distance of 1,700 km across Indian roads. But this massive truck took a year to cover this distance. Here is how it happened.

The Volvo FM 12 Puller started its journey in July 2019 from Nashik, Maharashtra towards Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Kerela. The oversized cargo that the puller had on top was a horizontal autoclave. This is why the Volvo trailer could only travel for about 5 km on an average every day. That meant that it would take about a year or about 340 days to cover a distance of 1700 km. Also, COVID-19 put a major hindrance in the time as they were stranded for over two months because of the lockdown.

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An official who was involved in the movement said,

“”We’re using rope to carry cargo’s weight. It’s being pulled by two axels, front & back, both have 32 wheels each & puller has 10 wheels. Puller is pulling it all. Drop deck weighs 10 tonnes and cargo weighs 78 tonnes. Weight is being distributed in two axels,”

Astronomy equipment as cargo

https://youtu.be/YHDoi1bGU5A

The machine that was being carried weighed about 70 tonnes and had a height and width of 7.5 meters and 6.65 meters respectively. When the cargo moved on the highways, other vehicles had to make way for it to move ahead cause it took that much of space. Owing to the condition of the Indian roads, the cargo stopped the traffic movement as well. At some areas on their way, trees had to be cut and electric lines were disconnected temporarily for the movement of the truck. Due to the massive height of the cargo, there were no other means of transportation that could make it. There was also on the option of dismantling and transporting the cargo. There was a special staff of 32 set up to ensure the safe movement all through the 1700 km of its journey.

Volvo FM Series Puller

The Volvo FM Series Puller is to made to satisfy such requirements and carry massive loads. It makes it the perfect choice due to its massive torque and ability to move oversized cargo. While this is the story of one such cargo that took a year to reach its destination that made the news, Indian roads are taken by hundreds of such trucks daily. The Volvo FM Series comes in two variants. The lower end gets a maximum power of 450 Bhp and a peak torque of 2150 Nm. The higher-end variant, however, gets a massive 12,800 cc engine that churns a maximum of 500 Bhp and 2500 Nm of peak torque. Both the models get the 12-speed automatic i-Shift gear transmission which enables the Volvo to detect the demand of the torque and shifts to the ideal gear accordingly. The Volvo FM and FH puller trailers are used around the world for their load-bearing capability and high reliability.

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