The PMB TR20 Slinger is your new favourite solution for batter slopes.
Contact Us NowYou’re faced with quite the challenge – that road batter is a crucial element in your road construction project and the exposed surface is going to need revegetation.
Rubber Duckies and Positracks are great, but you need to shift volume and access is generally a nightmare.
This is where the PMB TR20 Slinger becomes your new favourite solution for batter slopes.
The PMB TR20 Slinger is the perfect tool for the job.
Super-specialised, this machine installs topsoil and topsoil/mulch blend like nothing else.
It can even ‘throw’ it into position – removing any need for machinery to access those ‘impossible’ embankments.
The TR20 is better than any other method you’ve ever used.
Our TR20 Slinger is designed with this challenge in mind – easy positioning for inaccessible slopes, installs topsoil at considerable distances and does it quicker than any other solution you have previously used.
It’s all about the right tool for the job: PMB’s TR20 Slinger eliminates the need for a Positrack to drive on a steep slope, removing any safety risk of a machine rolling over or the slope collapsing.
The TR20 Slinger comes into its own as it is 100% remote control operated – allowing the Operator to be located in the perfect position to see the entire work zone and place material safely into the correct location.
Our TR20 Slinger significantly alleviates OSH concerns for project managers when faced with a slope gradient that is simply too steep. It installs topsoil at safe distances without having to operate on the slope itself. Total operational control is achieved at safe distances.
The short answer is easy: How fast can you load us?
The TR20 Slinger can install up to 3t of material a minute.
Or in a single day? Up to 1,000 tonnes.
The TR20 Slinger can ‘throw’ soil from 5-40m away – literally allowing an embankment slope to be topsoiled without any machinery driving on it.
Our fully remote-control operations give us both options and every distance in between. That’s how we achieve distance plus accuracy.
Taking batters into consideration early in the road construction is a low cost strategy when you compare it to the less-favoured, and far more costly alternative.
At the construction project’s completion, cut batters of land are exposed earth surfaces facing a risk of rapid erosion unless soils and mulch are installed on these steeper constructed slopes.
Consideration of good drainage, soil type, the soils installation before and during the earthworks and construction of batters is critical, thereby preventing that added cost of erosion repair – a direct result of you stalling on revegetation until the project’s end.
And that’s too late.
Don’t take our word for it – it’s all there in black & white on the Main Roads Western Australia Specification 304 Landscaping and Revegetation:
Timing of Works • The revegetation and landscaping works must commence as early as practicable after completion of the earthworks, and within the optimum time of year as nominated in Annexure 304B, to minimise soil erosion and ensure the effective revegetation of all disturbed soil areas.
Don’t leave it until the end of the project. Get in contact with us early.
It is stated clear and upfront in the Spec 304 that skilled personnel that are considered a Contractor’s sole responsibility under their supervision must be:
competent, experienced, and skilled in all aspects of the required landscape installation and establishment practices.
Partnering with PMB early in your process and deploying the TR20 Slinger fulfils this criteria when it comes to providing immediate erosion control and batter revegetation – our experience and cutting-edge equipment ensures this.
Whether it’s topsoil or mulch as required by the Spec 304, PMB has hard-won experience in installing all of these and can even supply to AS standards.
Insitu Topsoil • all cleared topsoil stockpiled on site (see Specification 301) that has been designated for re-use as topsoil.
Imported Topsoil • imported material for use as topsoil must comply with AS 4419. That’s good news for you because all of PMB’s premium soil products are Australian standard AS4419-certified for quality and are designed for fast installation.
Stockpiles of Topsoil or Mulch • preparing and managing all stockpiles is that much easier with the PMB Slinger and Blower fleet. In fact, using our fleet means stockpiles are relocated, reduced and in many cases eliminated.
Imported Composted Mulch • must comply with AS 4454. Again, that’s good news for you as the contractor because PMB offers a wide selection of high quality, AS4454 compliant mulches suitable for civil and government landscaping projects. So it’s a double whammy – we can supply and then install for you.
Timing • any topsoil, whether approved site suitable or PMB-supplied, must be respread quickly subsequent to construction operations, to maintain weed control and minimise soil erosion. The TR20 Slinger is the best tool for this as it handles the identified spoil (which must be spread first), followed by the topsoil.
Respreading Topsoil • this is where the TR20 Slinger comes into its own, as topsoil must be uniformly spread over the length of the road batter surface according to depth and levels shown in the Drawings. There is no easier way than with our slingers.
Topsoil Depth • unless the Drawings or Spec 304 Annexures indicate otherwise, a nominal depth of 75-100mm of topsoil must be placed prior to planting. This is what PMB specialises in, our teams working with and support you to calculate expected material volumes and placement in accordance with the specs.
Part of our daily soil installation processes will involve soil and drainage improvements.
If the Drawings or 304 Annexures call for Soil Conditioner and Additives, we can easily work with you to determine how to incorporate into the surface layer of topsoil in preparation for seeding and planting, in many cases as part of the initial install.
No need to come back to do this as an additional step – there’s some more cost savings for you.
If the Drawings or Spec 304 Annexures demand, improvement of sandy soil surfaces must incorporate chipped vegetation mulch and that it must be spread on the soil surface to the nominated depth with suitable equipment.
The suitable equipment referenced? It wouldn’t get any better than our Slinger and Blower fleet, which places that mulch at distance, with precision, and to nominated depths. Problem solved.
It’s worth mentioning at this point that building a road batter structure will often call for matting sheets, geoweb, or soil containment cells to be applied over embankments once construction works are completed.
PMB has worked with all three of these erosion and soil stabilisation materials on prior projects, which makes us the go-to for installing topsoils and mulch to fill to the nominated depths the Drawings and Annexures specify.
Some projects will call for approved mulch to be spread once excavation, surface preparation, topsoiling, soil improvements, or erosion control matting is complete.
What you’re trying to avoid here is overland flows from a rainfall event that creates soil erosion. At that point you, as the Contractor, would be responsible for replacing the eroded material and preparing the soil surface before mulch spreading can commence.
You don’t want that additional cost, even if the chances of flow from a rainfall event are slim.
Here’s where our PMB fleet can get the job done for you in line with the Spec 304.
See our Mulch Blower on a major Civil Construction project
Mulch Depth • a nominal depth of 75-100 mm of mulch must be placed (If not specified in the Drawings or Annexures). Same as for topsoil, this is PMB’s specialty, and we will calculate material install volumes & placement strategy with you.
Even Depth of Mulch • the Spec 304 is really specific about this one:
Mulch must be uniformly spread over the ground surface to an even depth by hand, machine or blower unit and if required the surface raked to present an even surface.
By hand? Forget it.
By machine or blower unit? Now we’re talking.
If the Slinger is perfect for topsoil respreading, then it’s our Blower Trucks that are perfect for the mulch spread phase of your project.
Installing mulch at 30m3 per hour, at close proximity or distance, and with uniformity and consistency eliminates the requirement to rake for that essential even surface.
Avoid Mixing Mulch • Unless the drawings specify otherwise, mulch must not be mixed in with the in situ soil or buried in between layers of the soil during the spreading operations.
No chance of that when you use PMB. The Slinger will install the in situ and supplied soil, then the Blower Trucks install the mulch. A combination of different material inputs utilising different fleet machinery.
Avoid Over Spreading Mulch • This is the clincher and we’ll quote the Spec 304 verbatim here to make the point:
The Contractor must avoid spreading mulch on plants, structures, roadways, and paths, road shoulders and grassed areas and leave the site in a neat, clean condition. Mulch must not be placed closer than 250 mm from the stem of any existing vegetation or new plantings. Existing vegetation or new plants accidentally covered by mulch must be uncovered as soon as possible.
This is exactly why landscapers, developers, civil construction and government call on PMB. To install (spread) mulch to these kind of detailed and precise specifications:
All the above is baked into our processes. It’s our standard, not an exception.
This is how our PMB Blower Truck fleet works and why we should be your preferred partner in your next road batter project.
PROJECT: Yanchep Rail Extension
TOTAL PROJECT BUDGET: $1.082 billion
EXPECTED DELIVERY DATE: late 2024
STAGING INVOLVEMENT FOR PMB: Main Construction Works
JOB TYPE: Topsoil Embankment
CLIENT: New East Alliance and METRONET
DATE OF WORKS: November 2023 – ongoing
SERVICES: Slinger
METRONET hired PMB to complete 10,000+m3 of soil backfilling works on the 14.5 kilometre Joondalup Line extension, which plays a vital part in dealing with the future growth of Perth’s northern suburbs.
This job was only the second deployment of the TR20 Slinger straight out of commissioning, and has been supplied onsite as a wet hire with our trained operator for the duration of the railway embankment stabilisation.
PMB’s role is part of the main construction works, the longest of the project phases. Elements of this stage include bulk earthworks, drainage works and track laying.
As we’ve outlined above, the main challenge was soil installation across cut batters, including both exposed earth surfaces and maintenance of areas previously backfilled.
Access for any earthmoving equipment onto the slopes was not a consideration due to its steepness.
Which is where the PMB TR20 Slinger came into its own.
This is our wheelhouse.
The PMB Slinger was able to shoot the soil at distances exceeding 30 metres, all the while being reloaded with site-won materials by onsite excavators, providing a seamless and uninterrupted workflow that saw hundreds of cubic metres of topsoil/mulch blend thrown into place each and every single day.
No other piece of kit is capable of that level of work, with precise installation completed quickly.
Our expert operator became an indispensable asset for our client as he was able to control the slinger and its slinging angle remotely, progressing the slinger effortlessly along the length of the rail embankments.
No safety issues presented themselves as the Slinger was remotely operated, ensuring safety for not only our crew member, but also our client’s team.
There’s always a learning curve on every project and being onsite for the duration, our Operator became an expert in what was required to complete the job.
The result has wowed our client, and they are keen to utilise our Slinger again for its upcoming roster of projects.
This is where the hard work we’ve done together produces a dividend – the planting process can commence and the chances of a successful client handover (and continued vegetation period) increase exponentially.
Before planting, a Hold Point is likely to kick-in and assess:
By attending to the topsoil and mulch spreading outlined earlier, the likelihood of a reduction in Hold Point time occurs. The already applied materials aids soil moisture retention and erosion control. Planting can get underway without delay.
Tidying Up • Prior to works completion, the following two safety criteria (amongst others) must be met:
When you deploy PMB’s expertise, we certainly wouldn’t be a factor in this problem:
So, your batters are long since constructed, and now you realise you need some help with materials installation. Can we still help you?
Our ideal solution is not to be parachuted in at the last minute – we believe in a work smarter not harder approach that would have us involved from the design and implementation stage, that’s ultimately the gold-standard outcome for us both.
Having said that, of course we can still be your partner on this!
Fast Installation
Up to 1,000 tonnes in a single day
Seamless and uninterrupted workflow
The TR20 Slinger can thrown 100m3 + of soil into place each and every single day
That’s 500m3 of soil in a regular working week
Proximity AND Distance
The TR20 Slinger installs soil from 5-40m away
No machinery required to drive on embankment slopes
Fully remote-control operations
That’s how we achieve distance plus accuracy.
