Cold planer wins gold on marathon job

• 
• 22nd February 2008
• Materials Handling
 

One of the premier events at any Olympic games is the marathon race, and in 2008 Beijing will play host to the world's best distance runners. Not only will those world-class runners be making history in front of Beijing's historic Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, they will be running for gold on a smooth route repaved by a Caterpillar customer.

Contractor Beijing Fujinfeng Henglong Road Maintenance Co. Ltd. was selected to handle the work for this high-profile paving project along Chang'An Street, arguably the most famous and one of the busiest roadways in Beijing. For this reason, the Chinese government wanted work completed as quickly as possible without sacrificing quality and reliability, while minimizing the impact to commuters and people living near the work site. The contractor turned to Cat to get the job done.

Fujinfeng Henglong applied a Caterpillar PM-200 cold planer to the challenges of getting the Chang'An Street prepared for paving.  The state-of-the-art PM-200 features a C18 engine with ACERT Technology, meeting U.S. EPA Tier 3 and EU Stage IIIa emission regulations without sacrificing the power and torque needed for quickly and efficiently milling the street in preparation for resurfacing. In an effort to reduce the impact on traffic congestion, the PM-200 was put to work in the overnight hours in front of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

"It is an honor for my company to be selected for this important project and I'm pleased with the performance of our Caterpillar equipment for this job," said Zhang Lianquan, CEO of Beijing Fujinfeng Henglong Road Maintenance Co. "Next year as the world watches the marathon race during the 2008 games, I will have great pride in knowing that my company paved Chang'An Street for that event."

The 2008 games are being viewed as China's coming out party to the world. To ensure the games are a success, the Chinese government is spending billions of dollars to build world-class Olympic venues, support facilities, and to upgrade every aspect of infrastructure in and around Beijing. 

"Over the last several decades, Caterpillar machines and engines have been involved in the build out of Olympic venues all around the world, and I am certainly pleased that our customers in China are once again using Caterpillar products for the work being completed in anticipation of the 2008 games," said Jim McReynolds, President of Caterpillar Global Paving.

The PM-200 is a product that has only recently been introduced to paving contractors in China, but the machine's speed, power and reliability are already winning over customers such as Beijing Fujinfeng Henglong Road Maintenance. Based on the success of its first PM-200, Zhang has purchased two more PM-200s for use in projects around Beijing.

"These high-tech machines cost more when you first buy them, but the productivity and reliability is superior to other brands and so our overall operating costs are much lower," explains Zhang. "In the long run, these machines have far exceeded our expectations."

In addition to the 2008 Olympic marathon, the route for the Olympic torch relay will also include Chang'An Street. The wheelchair marathon for the 2008 Paralympic games will also pass along Chang'An Street in front of The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. For all of the athletes competing in those events, the route to a gold medal will be a smooth one thanks to the progress that has been made possible on Chang'An Street by Caterpillar machines and our customers.

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