AUSTRIA: Austrian Federal Railways has taken delivery of a Aebi Schmidt Beilhack HB1100S heavy duty snow blower, which can move up to 10 000 tonnes of snow per hour with a clearing width of up to 6 m.

There are two MAN D2862 12-cylinder 793 kW diesel engines mounted at the rear of the vehicle, one to propel it at up to 100 km/h and the second to operate the blower.

The engines are from MAN’s off-road agricultural equipment range, as these are narrower and shorter than engines from its railway range. This ensures than the snow blower can be short enough that its wide clearing head will not protrude beyond the loading gauge on curves.