Skip to main content

Hitachi digs deep in Paris

A Hitachi excavator has enabled the creation of a subterranean six-floor car park in the centre of Paris. The ZX225USRLC-3 was used to dig deep below ground in the French capital and remove 65,000m³ of earth before construction of the facility could begin. For Saperfe Travaux Publics, a sub-contractor working on the project, the Hitachi machine was the only specialist equipment required. The clamshell telescopic arm of the ZX225USRLC-3 can reach depths of up to 25m.
February 15, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The Hitachi ZX225USRLC-3 excavator was used to dig deep below ground in paris
A 233 Hitachi excavator has enabled the creation of a subterranean six-floor car park in the centre of Paris.

The ZX225USRLC-3 was used to dig deep below ground in the French capital and remove 65,000m³ of earth before construction of the facility could begin.

For Saperfe Travaux Publics, a sub-contractor working on the project, the Hitachi machine was the only specialist equipment required. The clamshell telescopic arm of the ZX225USRLC-3 can reach depths of up to 25m.

At the site, the small footprint achieved with the zero-tail swing maximised productivity as it enabled trucks to stop directly adjacent to the excavator for immediate loading. As a result, the Hitachi excavator loaded each of the 13 trucks productively.

According to operator Marco Ferreira, the ZX225USRLC-3 was ideal for digging deep below ground and beyond the range of conventional excavators.

"The extension/retraction device in the arm moves quickly to enable a smooth telescopic movement. The sliding cab and extended window make it comfortable to operate," he said.

According to Hitachi, the ZX225USRLC-3 also coped well with the earth's high-water content which presented the toughest challenge. As the ground was so soft, a network of pipes was used to hold the car park's underground structure in place.

The excavator had to work in and around these pipes, which proved a delicate task.

Site manager Laurent Petain explains: "The excavator worked in 5.5m deep sections at a time and had to be extremely precise." Supplied by official French Hitachi dealer Payen, the ZX225USRLC-3 is the third Hitachi addition to the Saperfe fleet. The company also has a ZX210W-3 wheeled excavator and a ZX25 mini excavator.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Runway refurbishment at Leipzig/Halle airport
    May 4, 2022
    Leipzig/Halle airport in Germany is now benefiting from a newly rehabilitated runway as well as a number of taxiways
  • New tunnelling machines are coming to market
    May 13, 2015
    Major gains in tunnelling productivity and performance are claimed for a series of new machines now coming to market These new tools will help contractors boost productivity and versatility in an array of applications. The new equipment items are designed for a variety of tasks, including drilling and shotcreting duties. One of the leaders in the underground equipment sector, Atlas Copco, has a new line-up of single and twin boom drill rigs, which suit duties in smaller tunnelling applications. The fi
  • Advanced earthmovers now available
    May 10, 2018
    The excavator and wheeled loader segments represent massive sales volumes for manufacturers, so new model development is prioritised - Mike Woof writes. The crawler excavator segment accounts for a substantial portion of total sales of construction machines. With this in mind, it is no surprise that this is a market segment for which manufacturers prioritise a significant proportion of their research and development budgets. Wheeled loaders, while not selling in quite such large numbers as crawler excava
  • Norwegian quarry opts for the Hitachi ZW310-5 wheel loader
    March 21, 2016
    Norwegian producer of high-quality aggregates Hamar Pukk og Grus has invested in a new ZW310-5 for loading trucks and trailers at its 60-hectare quarry on the outskirts of the town of Hamar. The wheeled loader is the first Hitachi machine in the company’s fleet and was delivered in April 2015 by the Norwegian dealer Nasta. It has joined a team of six personnel on the site, who are responsible for excavating 120,000m³ of materials and producing 250,000 tonnes of aggregates a year. Material is loaded in