New Unimog reinforces fleet at the building management department of the canton of Zurich in year-round operations.
It's not the most populous canton, but the one with the greatest volume of traffic: in Zurich, the building management department has its hands full. It plans, builds, operates and maintains the canton's motorways and bridges, bridle, hiking and cycling paths as well as the federal routes by order of the Federal Office for Transport. In Zurich the Unimog is indispensable: the building management department already operates ten vehicles.
Multi-functional implement carrier for both summer and winter.
Road maintenance is particularly complex in the canton of Zurich because "all road construction has an immediate and huge effect on traffic," says Jeannot Wagner, head of the vehicle fleet at the civil engineering agency. That is why it is important to have an all-rounder for all weather conditions which is at home both off-road and on the motorway.
In addition to the snow plough, salt spreader and snow blower for the cold months, the attachments also include a front boom mower, rear crane, winch and many others. "Prior to purchasing the new implement carrier, we put together a specification sheet based on the technical requirements that we had. An invitation to tender was then issued – and the Unimog implement carrier landed in first place," Jeannot Wagner explains.
The Unimog implement carrier landed in first place.
Jeannot Wagner, head of the vehicle fleet, Zurich's building management department
Visibility is safety.
The Unimog U 427 was supplied by the Mercedes-Benz sales partner Altherr in Nesslau and was handed over to the building management department at the beginning of June. Instead of being painted all over in orange as was previously typical of the industry, the new Special Truck is white with striking design elements in bright blue and red-orange.
A matter of taste? Not really, because the vehicle design is based on the "Directive for technical requirements for road vehicles". The Federal Council of Switzerland recently decided that vehicles in road maintenance service may feature retroreflecting and fluorescent colours. "This ruling makes a significant contribution to the working safety of our staff; the civil engineering agency has been successfully using this technology for a while. As a result it is considerably easier to see and recognise the vehicle," reports Jeannot Wagner.
