The cog railway first climbed up to the summit of Germany’s highest mountain – the Zugspitze – 90 years ago. Since then, the area around the almost 3000-metre-high mountain has become increasingly popular and the number of tourists has increased year after year. As a result, BZB now operates a total of 27 mountain railways and ski lifts as well as eight of its own restaurants in the Garmisch-Classic, Wank and Zugspitze regions. Last year, these restaurants sold, amongst other things, some 133,000 pretzels, 19 tonnes of Kaiserschmarrn and 60 tonnes of chips. To ensure that all its establishments can all be restocked as quickly as possible, the company recently started relying on a MAN TGE 4×4.
Jens Schulze, the man responsible for technical storage and logistics at BZB, is thrilled about the latest addition to the fleet at the Grainau depot: “The decisive factor in the decision to purchase this MAN TGE 4×4 is the enormous force all-wheel drive provides in steep terrain. It’s really impressive how the intelligent all-wheel drive system works, pulling the transporter up the hillside like a mountain goat, even on unpaved roads.”
Thanks to its robust, low-maintenance all-wheel drive system, the MAN TGE 4×4 has absolutely no problem scaling the forest roads and footpaths of the extremely rugged and steep Wetterstein range. The special feature of MAN smart all-wheel drive is that when the vehicle loses traction, the control system reacts fully automatically, activating the rear-wheel drive in the blink of an eye (0.084 seconds). The driving torque can thus be distributed between the front axle and the rear axle in an infinitely variable process, namely from 100 to 0 percent and vice-versa. This is made possible by the rapid responses of the clutch, which automatically distributes the driving torque between the front and rear axles. The clutch itself is an electronically controlled multiple-disc clutch with fins that run in an oil bath. The fins are connected axially as and when required. In this way, the system is guaranteed to provide the best possible traction, no matter whether the vehicle is travelling over wet or snow-covered ground.
Another advantage that the MAN transporter brings BZB is its variability. The Kombi, which is designed to transport people as well as goods, has a series of rails on its floor. These enable the seats of the MAN TGE Kombi to be arranged and moved easily with the aid of a quick-release system and without the need for tools. This gives BZB maximum flexibility when planning its vehicle use. After all, people also need to be driven up to the various restaurants now and again.
SOURCE: MAN Truck & Bus
