Dutch contractor demolishes three bridges in 48 hours using Epiroc heavy hydraulic breakers

Dutch contractor LEK Sloopwerken recently demolished three 150-metre-long viaducts on the A27 motorway in the Netherlands during a single weekend in May. To achieve this the company used Epiroc rig-mounted heavy hydraulic breakers equipped with Epiroc's patented Intelligent Protection System (IPS).

The widening of the A27 and A1 motorways between Eemnes and Bunschoten-Spakenburg is a huge infrastructure project. On the Utrecht to Almere stretch of the A27 alone it involves the heavy demolition of six aging viaducts and their foundations.

Five thousand cubic metres of concrete
To minimize traffic disruption, the contractor was given a window of 48 hours during the weekend of May 26–27 to demolish three of the old bridges located near Hilversum and Bilthoven, an urban area with restrictions on noise and dust creation. Each bridge was 150 metres long and 6 meteres high, and altogether the demolition work involved breaking 5,000 cubic metres of specially reinforced concrete.
                                                                                                                                         
The job was completed successfully within the timeframe using nine Epiroc rig-mounted heavy hydraulic breakers with service weights of three to seven tons: four HB 7000's, an HB 5800, three HB 4100/4200's, and an HB 3100. The machines were mounted on Volvo, Cat and Hitachi carriers. 

Site manager Maarten Lek relates that efficient service for the hydraulic breakers as well as spare machines were provided on-site by Epiroc distributor SAES International BV.

Breaker performance optimized with IPS
Epiroc heavy hydraulic breakers feature the patented Intelligent Protection System (IPS), which combines Epiroc's popular AutoControl and StartSelect functions, and automatically adapts the breaker's operating behavior to any working condition. 

IPS permits more accurate and significantly faster positioning of the hydraulic breaker, thanks to the centreing effect, and avoids blank firing that often results in tool damage. Epiroc says that uptime is higher since with IPS no operator intervention is required and thus there is no interruption of the working process.