When once round the world just is not enough

The distance covered by the suburban railway in Munich every day is staggering – it is equivalent to circumnavigating the Earth. Opened for the Olympic Games in 1972, the line has now reached its limits. However, the old lady will find her feet again thanks to the expansion of the rail network, Munich’s largest construction project for the coming years.
When once round the world just is not enough When once round the world just is not enough When once round the world just is not enough When once round the world just is not enough When once round the world just is not enough

The LSC 8-18 L slurry wall cutter supplied by Liebherr making its premiere in Munich on a major infrastructure project

Deutsche Bahn (a German railway company) is extending the suburban railway network in Munich. One of the central entrances to the second core line is being built at Marienhof in the Altstadt and six Liebherr machines are in operation for this development.

In order to cope more efficiently with the bustling stream of passengers in the inner city, Deutsche Bahn is building a second core line between the stations Laim and Leuchtenbergring. A central entrance to the tunnel is in the Altstadt at Marienhof. Here the joint venture VE 41 comprising Implenia and Hochtief is carrying out slurry wall work using Liebherr equipment.

The challenges lie in the large dimensions of the slurry walls and the extremely confined space on the construction site. Due to the partially historical buildings in the immediate surroundings, an application with low vibration is necessary for the installation of the slurry walls. But at the same time, it must also meet the high demands for compactness and verticality. The contractor found the correct equipment in the brand-new Liebherr slurry wall cutter type LSC 8-18 L.

The cutter's high weight, high cutter frame and low centre of gravity provide the optimum basis to achieve the necessary verticality. Maximum process safety is achieved through the full integration of the verticality measurement in the Liebherr control system. Furthermore, 12 independently controllable steering flaps can correct the cutting direction should any possible deviations occur. The actual position of the flaps is displayed in real-time on the monitor in the operator's cab. In order to deal with the confined spaces of urban construction sites, the cutter can be positioned over the bite using a continuous hydraulic turning device.

The new equipment from Liebherr cuts its way through 33m3 of soil per hour and requires eight hours for a primary trench. A total of 108 trenches measuring 1,500 x 3,200mm with 30cm overlap must be installed on the construction site in Munich.

In addition to the cutter, the hydraulic slurry wall grab, type HSG 5-18, is in operation. It is also fitted with verticality measurement and a turning device for the frame and is mainly used for the initial excavation of the trenches.

The carrier machine for both the grab and the cutter is a duty cycle crawler crane type HS 8130. Its excellent stability in combination with the largely dimensioned winches make the HS 8130 the perfect basis for such heavy equipment.

The joint venture is using the separation plant SPC 600 C, which Liebherr offers as part of a complete package for slurry wall applications. The package also includes grab, cutter and duty cycle crawler crane. The plant can process up to 600m3 support fluid including excavation material per hour.

In addition to the two duty cycle crawler cranes with slurry wall cutter and grab respectively, the drilling rigs type LB 24 and LB 44 are also working on the cramped site for the expansion of the suburban line.

Further, the crawler crane type LR 1250 lifts the reinforcement cages into place, each of which weighs up to 55t and is 55m high.

The second core line is scheduled to open in 2028. Then the Munich Lady can rattle her way along even more tracks than before. Because once round the world is not enough.

Got a story? Email: duncan.moore@aspermontmedia.com

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