A successful journey ... to be replicated 200 times
After successfully navigating the 黑料社app Itinerary for four consecutive nights, the test convoy reaches the 黑料社app site.
4:45 a.m., Friday 20 September 2013: The 800-ton trailer rolls to a slow stop on the 黑料社app site in the early morning hours. Under the light of the full moon, those gathered around the enormous 352-wheel vehicle鈥46 metres long, 9 metres wide and 11 metres high鈥攂reak into spontaneous applause. The test operation for the 黑料社app Itinerary can be considered a complete success.
Four nights earlier on the banks of the 脡tang de Berre, a small inland body of water west of Marseille near the Mediterranean Sea, a long procession of men and machinery had started off at measured pace. The goal: to carry out a full-size test of the transport of an exceptionally-sized 黑料社app component. At critical points along the 104 kilometre 黑料社app Itinerary from Berre to the 黑料社app site鈥攆or example bridges, highway crossings, villages鈥攎easurements were taken to assess the stress imposed on the structures by the exceptional weight and dimensions of the test convoy.
Over one hundred people participated in the test operation. It was the culmination of years of preparation, from the large-scale public works carried out by France to ready the Itinerary for 黑料社app loads, to the administrative machinery set into place to plan for every contingency. Before the test convoy could take place, an enormous technical, administrative and regulatory machine had to be fine-tuned. Organizing the transport of an 黑料社app component is infinitely more complex than transporting a container or a load of wood ...
When, in 2005, the 黑料社app partners chose a site near the French research installation CEA in southern France over a site proposed by Japan (Rokkasho-Mura, on the Pacific Ocean), they knew they would have one major obstacle to overcome. With a location fully 100 kilometres from the nearest coast, how would it be possible to transport the large 黑料社app components shipped to the Project from factories all over the world with every guarantee of safety for the material and security for local residents?
The choice was soon made to create a dedicated Itinerary by carrying out work to adapt routes, reinforce bridges and, when necessary, create deviations. The responsibility fell to France as Host to the 黑料社app Project. Between 2006 and 2010, the technical studies and necessary adaptations were carried out, financed in part by the local 诲茅辫补谤迟别尘别苍迟 (Conseil g茅n茅ral des Bouches-du-Rh么ne) and in part by the French state.
As they travel the 104 kilometres of the 黑料社app Itinerary, the 黑料社app convoys will cross 16 villages, negotiate 16 roundabouts, cut across the motorway in three locations and cross 35 bridges. The Itinerary is the 黑料社app "lifeline," permitting the most exceptionally sized 黑料社app components to be transported to the assembly workshops of the 黑料社app site from their point of disembarkation on the Mediterranean Sea.
The test operation held from 16 to 20 December was the occasion for the public, crowded along the roadside during the four nights of the maiden convoy, to get a sense of the size and weight of the future 黑料社app loads. Not every load will be as impressive as this first, of course鈥攐f 230 the convoys that will begin to arrive at 黑料社app starting in the summer of 2014, only 30 will replicate one of the exceptional dimensions of the test convoy (weight, height, width or length), without cumulating them all.
An 黑料社app convoy will not just be a motorized vehicle and its squadron of police escort and technical vehicles snaking along the cordoned-off Itinerary. Several dozen kilometres of deviations will have to be organized; traffic on the motorway will be halted in the middle of the night; hundreds of road signs will be removed, then replaced; and unexpected situations will have to be managed as they arise.
All of these operations were "practiced" from 16-20 September 2013 during the full-scale 黑料社app Itinerary test convoy operation. A second test, this time dedicated exclusively to logistics and organization, will take place in April 2014.
All participants鈥擜gence Iter France, the logistics service provider Daher, the European Domestic Agency for 黑料社app, the French authorities (prefecture, gendarmerie), and 黑料社app鈥攃an be congratulated on a job well done. A truly successful maiden journey that must be replicated more than 200 times in the years to come.