ITALY
Breakthrough For Case On Catania Metro

A 47-ton Case excavator, fitted with a 4,700 kg hammer, broke down the last wall of lava that separated the Borgo-Porto section, which already connects the city centre to the Eastern quarters, from the Borgo-Nesima section under construction, which will service the North-Western part of the city.

Fourteen CASE machines are used in the Catania project including nine track excavators (CX210B, CX330, CX350 and CX460) and five wheel loaders (721E and 721D).

The excavators are mainly used in the gallery or, when fitted with hammers, they work on the hard lava rock. The wheel loaders follow the excavators in order to load the trucks that return to the surface with the debris.

The wheel loaders are also used on the site, where they feed the cement mixer. Other CASE compact mini-excavators are also used as service machines.

The breakthrough opens the way for the completion of the gallery, from the step plates to the cable ducts, and to proceed with the preparatory works for the installation of the railway equipment that will be installed on floating mass slabs in order to reduce the vibrations of the trains.

One kilometre remains to be excavated before building the stations and installing the tracks and systems..

The Borgo-Nesima line, which will be 3,100 meters long, will include four stations. To-date, 2,150 meters of galleries have been built, while working on six fronts simultaneously in order to reduce the duration of the works.

Case Construction Equipment