The 261 tonnes, 66 metres long, and five metres high transformer started its voyage in South Korea where it was built. It will arrive by ship in Goole, East Yorkshire, before being lifted onto a low-loader for the final 73 miles leg by road to Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station. It is due to leave Goole at 10pm on Saturday night.
The trailer, flanked by police outriders and supported by a specialist haulage transport team, will then travel at about 12 miles an hour. It is due to arrive at the substation, along the A453, between 3am and 5am.
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The A453 will be closed from the M1 Junction 24 roundabout up to the power station entrance while the transformer travels down that stretch of road as the size of the load means that it will have to straddle both lanes of the carriageway.
National Grid and its partners in the move, Staffordshire-based ALE who are specialists in transporting heavy loads, have co-ordinated the huge task with military precision to keep traffic disruption and public inconvenience to a minimum.
Every effort has been made to deliver the transformer at a time and day when pedestrian and road traffic will, hopefully, be at its lightest.
National Grid project manager James Goode said: "We are sorry for any delays and disruption the delivery might cause but it is essential that the journey is trouble free. The transformer is an important upgrade to the Ratcliffe-on-Soar substation within the power station. It means we can maintain the future supply of electricity to a large local area."
(CD/JP)
