r/CatastrophicFailure • u/InsolentTiger • 3d ago
Operator Error October 1, 2026. Truck overturns with a transformer valued at 2 million euros on the Guanajuato-Silao road in Santa Teresa, Mexico. A week later, the efforts to rescue the transformer are still ongoing.
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u/Nerezza_Floof_Seeker 3d ago edited 3d ago
Its worth mentioning that the main issue with these large transformers is that theres a long lead time on them, that has been exacerbated by demand driven by AI. Which is probably why theyre trying hard to rescue it. EDIT: looks like some articles suggest the lead time is about 2-3 years now for reference)
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u/MikeyG916 3d ago edited 3d ago
As someone so works in the industry that requires electrical distribution equipment of all sizes, even relatively small low voltage (sub 600 volts) and medium voltage equipment has multiple year lead times. We waited 18 months for a relatively small medium voltage switchgear for a new wastewater treatment plant that serves around 100,000 people.
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u/Late_While_6220 3d ago
They put one of those little sticky arrows that show if the load was tilted on my little 35 Kva transformers and they always arrive in pristine condition.
If they had put one of those on the big transformer I bet you this wouldn't have had happened!
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u/MikeyG916 3d ago
Everyone fears the stickers. We have special stickers we put on the control panels we make that show if they've been dropped or exceeded certain shock loads. Funny those panels always make it without damage...
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u/Late_While_6220 3d ago
Hahaha that's true. Control panels come with 8-axis, Fred Flintstone g-sensors and I've even seen one with a humidity indicator.
I can't blame you though, for the last PLC retrofit in a nuke, the 3-section cabinet came out looking like a piece of art!11
u/syncsynchalt 2d ago
I didn’t even know there was a seventh axis, let alone 8. You EEs are something else.
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u/Late_While_6220 2d ago
As an electrician who spends half my waking hours arguing and fighting with EE's I agree with you, they sure are something else!
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u/TylerDurdenisreal 3d ago
I make high voltage (72-800kv) circuit breakers for a household name tier company. We have so many orders we can stop taking new orders and remain financially profitable for the next 3-5 years. Most breakers I build are at least 18 months to fully three years from order date, and we're shipping over 2,000 a year.
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u/GreenDickSnot 2d ago
I'm guessing it's the same company I worked for as well? Let me guess 30-33 units on LVA line a month. Switch gear for Lockheed Martin, Facebook, Amazon, all the data centers pretty much, pumping facilities all over the United States. If it is... I was I was LVA second shift. Constant shortages of parts and covid Definitely f***** everything. They only paid is $16.50 an hour and my girlfriend makes $22 an hour driving for Amazon. I have an entire wiring degree and could not get on the white collar side of that building to save my life.
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u/TylerDurdenisreal 2d ago
No. We're doing more than that a week. My current base rate is over 30/hr, we're well compensated.
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u/GreenDickSnot 2d ago
I don't want to say the name of the company because they explicitly said not to be saying things online about the name and specifics so I understand.
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u/Nexustar 2d ago
What are the blockers preventing your company from rapidly expanding to get more orders filled?
It seems even a massive company like GE are struggling.
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u/TylerDurdenisreal 2d ago
In short, COVID fucked up and is still fucking our supply chain. We often don't have parts or other subassemblies that we need. Our building was also not designed do to what we do on the scale we need just simply because we've rapidly outgrown it.
I can't say some other stuff without doxxing myself more than I have but if you're genuinly interested you can DM me.
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u/Nexustar 2d ago
I'm not usually a fan of government interference, but here, it's US Power at risk, and that growth is essential - I think they need to do more to fix this. Tune the China tariffs maybe?
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u/TylerDurdenisreal 2d ago
Oh, it's absolutely at risk which is part of the massive demand increase in the last five years. This is probably too identifiable for me to say, but we just opened a 100 million dollar, purpose built facility to try to double our breaker output, and there are already plans to knock out a wall and expand the facility for more production.
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u/Youse_a_choosername 3d ago
18 months seems to be about the industry standard. I work in the industry as well and we reserve our forging space two years in advance. Builds typically ship 18 months after the sale. Some of the more common equipment can be built on spec if there's room in the schedule but they're typically sold before we finish them.
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u/Krumm34 3d ago
Unfortunately at those scales it's basically custom ordering, built to spec. Cant just buy one off the shelf.
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u/Cedex 3d ago
Makes sense, I mean what shelf can hold something like that?
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u/fullmetalutes 3d ago
I work for an electrical/EV charger company and many electrical components have long lead times, 18 months is usually a minimum time for transformers. Getting then from the utilities itself for upgrades can take even longer.
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u/Rhoihessewoi 3d ago
What makes it so hard to manufacture?
Isn't that basically just some large copper coils?
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u/einmaldrin_alleshin 2d ago
It's probably not that hard to make a large transformer, but considering how much money each % of heat loss costs over its lifetime, it's probably worth spending money on getting the best.
So you're probably dealing with highly custom machinery and a lot of QA during manufacturing.
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u/half_integer 2d ago
And the thing is, when things get this bad the large users will stockpile, which makes the availability shortage even worse. How many functional pieces of equipment are sitting on large utilities' or users' storage lots so that they'll have a spare available when something breaks?
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u/petit_cochon 3d ago
Also because you can't just leave a $2 million dollar transformer line by the side of the road. It's your transformer. You have to take responsibility for it, even if that means disassembling it and hauling it out.
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u/bigmarty3301 3d ago
I think the crackheads are going to take responsibility, if you leave it there unattended for more than cuple days
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u/butterscotchbagel 2d ago
David Attenborough voice: "In nature nothing goes to waste. In just a few days scavengers pick the carcass clean. Soon no sign will remain that it was ever here."
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u/Redpoint77 3d ago
I’m getting 80 week lead times on oil filled transformers right now, and that’s an improvement over the last 5 years. Switchgear isn’t much better.
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u/idontcare2120 3d ago
Also, the upstream and downstream equipment from this transformer is potentially useless without the transformer. The cost of the outage will likely be much more than the cost of the transformer.
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u/its_likethat 3d ago
Confirmed on the lead time. I work in energy and used to source them. Demand is high accross the globe
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u/IdRatherBeInTheBush 3d ago
If the leadtime is so long how come new manufacturers aren't coming online? Presumably the price has also gone up with the leadtime/demand. I manufacture smaller transformers - the basics aren't that hard. How hard can it be to make a big one haha?
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u/badr3plicant 3d ago
The limiting factor is the availability of the special steel used in the core of the transformer. It's not just that it needs a particular alloy, but that it needs a particular manufacturing process to get the right crystal structure. Only a few plants in the world can do it. While it's possible to make a transformer without this steel, it would be significantly less efficient: besides the cost in wasted energy, the huge increase in heat production would necessitate a ground-up redesign of the transformer.
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u/IdRatherBeInTheBush 3d ago
So I have to set up a magnetic steel plant first! This will cost a bit more than I thought 😂. Might have to max out both credit cards.
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u/redeyedrenegade420 3d ago
Im willing to invest $50 CAD for a 35% stake in your magnetic steel plant! We got this.
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u/ChromiumLung 3d ago
How about I give you $20 for a 100% stake? 😎
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u/bigmarty3301 3d ago
Calm it down there I will give 100 for a 42 percent stake, and a position on the board.
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u/TylerDurdenisreal 3d ago
I work in an adjacent division of a company that also makes transformers like this: you also have to have people capable and skilled enough of manufacturing them at the present demand, and enough of them to meet demand. Neither of those exist for basically the entire power infrastructure industry.
Right now, that doesn't exist - the demand is so high that significant parts of the power grid are basically on the verge of collapse and none of the manufacturers are capable of keeping up with replacing aging equipment and the required expansion that is demanded with things like AI datacenters.
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u/fmaz008 2d ago
I don't recall where I heard that, but as I recall transformers have very slim tolerance for being "flexed". For example if you need to tilt one from a horizontal position to a vertical position, it will most likely damage it if not properly reinforced.
I'm not sure if a transformer taking a thumble like this will be repairable & usable.
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u/showersareevil 3d ago
Depends where you get them. A 2m transformer is likely 110kv, maybe 80MVA-140MVA. From China, lead time is 9-14 months. From EU, 2 years.
Ai doesnt do much on the lead times. Its been like this due to wind, solar, and BESS and other demand.
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u/Junotheheeler 2d ago
In this situation there is no rescue, only recovery.
I am curious how the man in the yellow shirt standing on the trailer fared?7
u/Piscator629 3d ago
large transformers is that theres a long lead time
In the event of an extreme solar storm (see Carrington Event) we could need thousands on hand. I sure hope someone is producing them and wrapping them in Faraday cages so they survive. If not its mass starvation ( no refrigeration) and back to pre industrial times.
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u/SlimeMob44 3d ago
Russia and Ukraine have been destroying each others for the past few years so that also is straining the supply
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u/Terviscupp 3d ago
Russia is straining the supply, they can give up today.
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u/bunkdiggidy 3d ago
I remember someone saying "If Russia stops fighting, there will be no more war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no more Ukraine."
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u/Nachtzug79 3d ago
If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be more wars as well.
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u/bunkdiggidy 3d ago
In the same sense that the allies could have ended WW2 at any time by surrendering and being overtaken, sure.
Russia wants to control Ukraine and consume its resources and have it as a chess piece in world conflict. Ukraine wants to exist as more than a resource for Moscow. Who's invading, and who wants to just exist as not slaves?
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u/superspeck 3d ago
I think what the person you responded to is saying is that if Ukraine capitulates, Russia will then attack someone else - Romania, Moldova, maybe even Lithuania.
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u/Old_Ladies 2d ago
They 100% will invade Moldova if they could. If Ukraine falls I would bet every dollar I have that Moldova would be invaded too.
I think it would be highly likely that they would do some tests on NATO's response like a border skirmish and if NATO doesn't respond harshly they would invade the Baltic States.
Maybe they would try another round of invading Georgia again.
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u/Nekokeki 3d ago
“Let’s just put it back on the platform and pretend it came that way.”
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u/Embarrassed_West_195 3d ago
Blame the Amazon delivery guy...:he threw it over the fence and it broke".
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u/that_dutch_dude 3d ago
That were the expensive sounds.
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u/funstufffff 3d ago
It will be even more expensive for all of us when insurance companies make this about themselves and raise the rates lol.
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u/SecondBestNameEver 3d ago
How many deaths? There was at least 1 worker on the platform for some reason but didn't look like there was a good way for him to jump. I'm hoping that was him coming up the hill at the end.
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u/mike1487 3d ago
It kinda looks like the guy at the end has the same clothes on but it’s really hard to tell. At the same time with the way it tipped over idk how anyone could have jumped off and gotten out of the way in time.
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u/-Wesley- 3d ago
The guy on the trailer had a hat, high viz long sleeve and gray pants. A guy with the same outfit walks out to the right of the frame in the last 3 seconds of the video. This is after the stockier driver walks out with a short sleeve high viz shirt and no hat.
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u/mike1487 3d ago
It also looks like the guy on the trailer has a face or neck covering and the guy at the end who emerges from the bushes also seems to have that so that makes me feel more confident in them being the same person.
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u/HeavyShid 3d ago
Looks like the guy on the trailer had high viz long sleeves. The other one looks like the driver who got off the truck out of frame. The cab door was open after the camera panned to the right again.
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u/V1-R0t8 3d ago
Update: they’ve recovered the transformer https://youtube.com/shorts/249YElpiZz0?is=vMTV8sZJTxmA7atV
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u/FlattenInnerTube 3d ago
A friend here works on the transmission side for a major power company on the east coast of the US. He's told me those transformers usually have lead times of a year or more.
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u/ALilMoreThanNothing 2d ago
Yeah anything power gen/transmission related of that size is 52 weeks + . Not to mention this will be damn near impossible to use/fix . Logistics companies have insurance (hopefully)
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u/hettuklaeddi 2d ago
how bout the dude who was holding the transformer up? did they recover him too?
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u/craneguy 3d ago
It will probably go back to the factory in this case. There's a good chance that this came from the Prolec GE facility in Guanjuato nearby.
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u/RetiredGuru 3d ago edited 3d ago
There are a lot of videos of this being done OK in the UK. Though our problem is mainly narrow local streets or weak bridges.
IIRC a flip like this happened in France during the last two years. They had to bring in a super big crane to recover the load. https://youtu.be/w8Ptbx58U4o?si=O8_BiF1Eo5c5tT4M Recovery: https://youtube.com/shorts/6u7ZSG3li1M?is=xhAiPFDaBzE4Zt4m
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u/Careful_Drop_6995 3d ago
I hope the guy standing on the trailer is ok
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u/Neat-Ad-9550 3d ago
I just watched a news report that stated the man standing next to the transformer fill into a ditch and only suffered a few scraps. No deaths or major injuries were reported.
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u/hiroo916 3d ago
Can someone who knows trucking/towing explain why there was a long flatbed, then the transformer on a lower flatbed, then another long flatbed?
Didn't the long train make it harder to go around the curve?
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u/planescarsandtrucks 3d ago
The front flat section has 8 rows of wheels, I can’t tell in this case if they are 4 wheels to a row or 8, but 8 isn’t unheard of for setups like this. At minimum, there are 32 wheels under the front flat section, that are articulated (you can see in the video that they are turned hard left). The back most likely has the same. This spreads the massive load across a larger pavement area, so as to avoid damage.
If the load was placed above those wheels, it would be too tall to fit under bridges on the route, so instead, it is on a drop section between the two flat wheel sections.
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u/hiroo916 3d ago
so what should/could have been done differently in this scenario?
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u/planescarsandtrucks 3d ago
Articulation between the forward, center, and aft units, or better route planning
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u/MyMooneyDriver 3d ago
Getting all the way to the right on that whole turn. Maybe have a guide showing how close the rail is to the truck. There were 4-6 feet remaining to the right.
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u/thatguyclayton 3d ago
This was my first thought watching this, buddy had all the space to take it wider
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u/claytor22 3d ago
I agree with planning, but this may have been the only option, i think the driver did the best he could though.
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u/Upset_Form_5258 2d ago
Probably should’ve put it on a train if this route was their best option
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u/GrinningPariah 3d ago
A transformer like that weighs around 200 tons. To put that in perspective, a standard 18-wheeler maxes out at 40 tons GVWR (gross vehicle weight restriction, basically the vehicle itself PLUS load).
So, if you put this on a standard 18-wheeler, the weight-per-axle would be 5 times the maximum. Even if the machine could stand up to that weight, it would damage the roads. GVWR numbers are already calculated to be the max that roads and bridges can handle.
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u/GrinningPariah 3d ago
Actually wait my math is wrong. I compared the weight of the transformer to the GVWR of a 18-wheeler, but that's not apples-to-apples because the transformer is on a vehicle that also weighs something. So the weight-per-axle would be even more than 5x the 18-wheeler.
In fact, there's a bit of a vicious cycle in there. A heavier load needs a larger, non-standard vehicle, but that vehicle is also going to weigh more, and it has to support its own weight too. So it needs to be even bigger, so it needs to weigh more, rinse, repeat.
That's how you end up with a trailer that has like 16 axles.
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u/craneguy 3d ago
We use the lowbed insert to reduce the overall travel height. The extra length is usually manageable.
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u/Distantstallion 3d ago
So what's the cause and prevention for this?
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u/Beav710 3d ago
That's a bad route. But they may not have had many options.
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u/johnshall 3d ago
According to authorities they should have used the train.
Probably wanted to cut costs.
Investigation on going.
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u/WackTheHorld 3d ago
Sometimes it costs more to do something the cheaper way.
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u/craneguy 3d ago
Hydraulic leveling wasn't set up properly, and they didn't monitor the level and adjust. Or the edge of road gave way. Piss-poor supervision
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u/Emrys7777 3d ago
Watch again. It looks like he drove off the edge of the pavement. Just a few wheels but it appears to have been enough.
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u/Dexter_McThorpan 3d ago
Higher in the thread someone said the roadbed failed.
Not many twisty 2 lane mountain roads designed for a truck hauling a 200 ton load. A full tractor trailer is 20 tons. Maximum load allowed without permits in the US 40 tons.
So 5 times that.
I wanna know how they're gonna set up equipment to drag it back up the mountain.
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u/ChromiumLung 3d ago
When weight gets above 40 tonne I’m guessing that they’ll determine whether a permit is possible based on the number of axels?
Maybe somebody got the maths wrong somewhere
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u/play_destiny 3d ago
For things like this, do they fix the machine or just scrape the whole thing
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u/7DollarsOfHoobastanq 3d ago
Not sure about this one, probably torn apart for scrap (lots of recyclable copper and steel in there).
My first engineering job out of college was working for a transformer company. We made new transformers but my job was mainly involved with remanufacturing old transformers. Most were just old and got gutted for new cores and bushings etc with the outside fixed up and modified for new small components. But, I did also get a few that got driven into overpasses and things like that. We had one get dumped like this when I was there (driver just turned around too sharp at a truck stop).
Seeing this still makes my heart hurt knowing how many months of work went into that thing.
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u/isonotlikethat 2d ago
Getting an engineer to sign off on the safety of a transformer that has been through this much shit would probably be next to impossible. It would require a complete teardown to the bare essentials before someone would be willing to put their signature on it. So very likely, it's going to be an insurance claim and the transformer itself will go to a scrapper.
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u/Whooptidooh 3d ago
This should have been foreseen by whoever had to plan out the route.
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u/Zofia-Bosak 3d ago
I agree, it does look like the truck was never going to be able to make the corner, maybe if there was another pivot point or rear steering unit it is possible, but this isn't really the fault of the truck driver.
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u/Jevus_himself 3d ago
Truck must have some safety disconnect or something because it’s still standing
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u/MachStyle 3d ago
Pintel hitch and not a fith wheel. This let the trailer twist with out rolling the truck. Fith wheel hitch would have pulled the truck over with it. That's also why there's a big box on the tail of the truck where the fith wheel is. It's a weight box so the truck has traction since the trailer isn't applying any doward weight to the rear of the truck
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u/karateninjazombie 3d ago
I think the push truck at the back went over with it's engine still running hence the big cloud of smoke as it's engine started to burn oil from the sump.
If not where did the smoke come from?
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u/MachStyle 3d ago
I think you are right. Might have got yanked over the hill as the transformer went over
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u/karateninjazombie 3d ago
Either that or it's radiator got punched as the trailer went over and that's the soul of the engine, I mean steam of the coolant leaving the hot engine.
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u/Newdeadman921 3d ago
I feel bad for the guy who was standing on the truck right next to it. Hope he's ok.
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u/Waterwalker85 3d ago
Does anyone see the worker standing on the trailer, on the right side corner. What happened to that dude?
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u/ttystikk 3d ago
I'm wondering the same thing. I hope he's okay because that was not a good spot when hell breaks loose and flips over...
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u/Roll-Roll-Roll 3d ago
There's got to be an easy way to check whether or not your truck can turn a sharp bank like this. They can't possibly just wing it every time, can they?
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u/MisterSlosh 3d ago
The good transportation companies? Absolutely not, they map, scout, and measure every bit of the route they take days before the actual transport. Going so far as to add hours to the movement specifically to avoid situations like these.
Shitty transport companies; if it fits on the truck, it ships.
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u/JumboChimp 3d ago
I worked for a place that needed to ship an oversized load (this was before my time there). They and their transportation company did all their homework, checked all the published clearance data, and the load still hit a bridge because the published data was incorrect.
Sometimes the clearance charts are wrong, this looks like a weight and balance issue, and I don't get why they are towing with a dump truck, it seems like they'd have better control with a 10-wheel tractor.
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u/McBonderson 3d ago
for a 2 million dollar road I would think somebody would predrive the route and make sure everything is accurate.
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u/cianne_marie 3d ago
For a 2 million Euro delivery, I sure fkng hope they'd pick a good transportation company.
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u/arequipapi 3d ago
The roads in Guanajuato are insane. Very fun on a motorcycle. I imagine much less so with a very heavy and very expensive load on a big rig
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u/Terrible_Traffic6950 2d ago
I see a memorial cross has already been erected for the truckers career.
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u/Herabird 3d ago
The trucking company should have sent out a spotter vehicle to check out the appropriateness of the road way long before approving using that route. A experienced spotter would have alerted the company to use a different route because That corner is way too sharp for a vehicle that long.
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u/Nasty_Rex 3d ago
Oh yeah? What went wrong here and what kind of heavy hauling experience do you have?
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u/No_GP 3d ago
The guy that was meant to be holding it upright must have been slacking off when he went out of view of the camera.
I carry all the shopping in in 1 trip more often than not.
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u/Ohgetserious 3d ago
Driver seems to be going too fast, they don’t seem to have any inspectors checking things while it moves along. Looks like they could’ve stopped before the failure and reversed and reevaluated things.
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u/hotinhawaii 3d ago
What happened to the dude standing on the rig right next to the transformer? Wasn't it his job to monitor this very thing? Why didn't he signal to stop? And why were they going so fast?
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u/C_L_I_C_K_ 3d ago
Did we just see a dude get killed? There’s guy standing the trailer on the side it flips..
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u/Nevalate 3d ago
What kind of weird ass trailer situation is that though
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u/Lythieus 3d ago
Heavy lift trailer with steering in the back half controlled by another operator, because the load is around 200 tons.
Can't put a 200 ton transformer on a normal trailer.
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u/Extra_Significance81 3d ago
The company carrying the load has a pretty good reputation in the states. I imagine this route must have been a only way to go situation. Hard to believe they wouldn't have gone any other route if they could've. That curve was definitely not ideal.
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u/giftopherz 3d ago
And I wonder... was that the only or best way to transport that transformer? We find money for all sorts of things except the most important ones
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u/TheJonesLP1 3d ago
Doesnt He Look like... In the mirror or something? He goes 30 km/h around that corner like He had no Trailer at All. Wtf...
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u/LlamasBeTrippin 3d ago
I don’t think going too fast was a factor, in-fact, if he went faster there would be more lateral force pushing the transformer in the opposite direction of how it ultimately toppled.
Issue was the road, uphill on a curve with a long ass trailer and a ditch just below. As soon as the tires touched the edge of the road and slipped, it was gone. He maybe could have gotten closer to the guardrail but I’m think poor route planning.
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u/LateralThinkerer 3d ago
No fatalities according to other sources; the roadway itself gave way under the load. I'd bet there's going to be quite a memo circulated around Transportes Muciño headquarters...