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Doosan excavators key to Germany B 2 highway upgrade

Thannhauser + Ulbricht Straßen- und Tiefbau (TU) is employing four new Doosan DA30 articulated dump trucks (ADTs) and a new Doosan DX490LC-3 crawler excavator for the earthmoving work during the upgrade of Germany’s B2 federal highway. The machines being used by TU, based in Fremdingen, southern Germany, belong to the rental fleet of Rühle Maschinenpark from Untermünkheim-Haagen.
April 2, 2014 Read time: 4 mins
Thannhauser + Ulbricht Straßen- und Tiefbau (TU) is employing four new 695 Doosan DA30 articulated dump trucks (ADTs) and a new Doosan DX490LC-3 crawler excavator for the earthmoving work during the upgrade of Germany’s B2 federal highway.

The machines being used by TU, based in Fremdingen, southern Germany, belong to the rental fleet of Rühle Maschinenpark from Untermünkheim-Haagen.

The B2 is one of Germany's oldest highways and runs the entire length of the country, north to south, covering a distance of 845km. South of Nuremberg, it forms one of the most important connections between the city of Nuremberg and Augsburg.  Due to the high volume of traffic, a stretch of 3.6km is now being widened from two to four lanes near to the town of Roth.  

As the part of the road being doubled in size requires the construction of an additional carriageway, it needs not only a new bridge be built but also some 275,000m³ of excavated earth to be moved.  The quality of part of the 275,000m³ of excavated earth will be improved, before it is put back in place, while the rest will be removed from the site.  

Since the beginning of construction work in April 2013, ten hectares of forest land has been cleared and 61,000m³ of surface soil removed, with the project planned for completion at some stage in 2014. Shortly after the project started, it became evident that due to the high proportion of sand in the ground, coupled with heavy rainfall saturating and softening the earth, the composition of the excavated soil made it unsuitable for hauling away with conventional construction site trucks.  For this reason, TU began a search for a company that could provide them at short notice with four ADTs and a 50tonne excavator on a long-term lease basis.

Rühle Maschinenpark was able to meet this requirement, supplying the five heavy-duty Doosan machines within ten days.  The company's director, Achim Rühle, said, “Though we didn't have four dump trucks ready in the yard, through our position as a Doosan dealership, we were able to obtain the machines from the Doosan fleet holding to meet our client's needs."

The Doosan fleet makes a series of machines available for leasing to Doosan dealerships.  In this way, Doosan dealers can also react to client requests without making high investments, even for machines they do not have in their own rental fleet.  In fact, the close relationship with Doosan made it possible for the Doosan DX490LC-3 50tonne excavator to be delivered straight to site from a trade fair.  

Used around nine hours a day, the Doosan equipment is said to be very popular with the operators on site, handling the difficult ground conditions without a problem, while delivering excellent performance.

The Doosan DA30 ADT offers a 28tonne load capacity. It is powered by a five-cylinder Scania DC9 diesel engine with a gross output of 276kW, which meets the new Stage IIIB emissions regulations.  Its gross torque (1873Nm at 1300RPM) ensures the DA30 ADT offers excellent traction which is needed to operate in such difficult conditions. At a top speed of 58km/h, it achieves a fuel consumption that is said to be groundbreaking in its class.

The 50tonne Doosan DX490LC-3 crawler excavator has an Isuzu AL-6WG1X six-cylinder diesel engine with variable geometry turbocharge.  It utilises EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) and DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) technology to meet the Stage IIIB emissions requirements.  It delivers 290kW at 1800 RPM and is claimed to have a strikingly low fuel consumption rate.  Thanks to new hydraulic pumps and valves, it has been possible to increase the digging forces by 3 to 6% in comparison to the previous DX480LC model.

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