Job story
Bobcat
Bobcat brings light at the end of the tunnel
Powerful compact
Bobcat machines combine ideal features for renovation of
Klingenberg Dam.
By Christian Ruppel
The Klingenberg Dam in the Erzgebirg mountains on the Czech-German border is a technical masterpiece. After
100 years of uninterrupted operation,
comprehensive renovation on the dam began in 2005. The Olaf Weniger
Pflasterbau GmbH & Co. KG company from Brand-Erbisdorf has assumed a major role in this project. The company s workforce is currently working with Bobcat compact excavators and a Bobcat compact tracked loader in a discharge tunnel measuring not more than 2 m in width and 2.50 m in height.
Pipelines with a diameter of 1 m run along a steel U-profile beam embedded in the foundations of the 150 m long tunnel, used for the regulation of
normal water levels. These old pipelines must be removed along the entire length of the tunnel which ends in the 15 m thick, solid brick, cut-off wall of the valve chamber, posing a particularly tough challenge for the workforce.
The cut-off wall must be completely demolished and the rubble removed so that the rest of the tunnel system can be renovated. For the equipment being used, this means very hard work in extremely narrow spaces. This made it easy for Olaf Weniger to decide the right equipment to use: Only Bobcat s compact excavators and loaders can deliver the required performance in such a tight space.
Weniger decided on a Bobcat 425
and a Bobcat 337 compact excavator fitted respectively with the appropriate Montabert hydraulic breaker for the demolition work,
a Bobcat 442 for digging access
