Largest Concrete Pump in Latin America Working in São Paulo Subway

A Putzmeister 63Z-meter truck-mounted concrete boom pump, considered the largest pump in Latin America, is placing concrete for the Moema station in Line 5 of the São Paulo Subway system. The pump was chosen by the engineering staff of the Consortium Helenus & Fonseca / Tiisa and tasked with transporting concrete to an average depth of 82 feet, the equivalent of an eight-story building.

The 63Z has a nearly 204-foot boom, which opens in a five-section, Z-fold formation to pump up to 175 cubic yards of concrete per hour. The pump is owned and operated by RentalMix.

The Moema subway station is being built according to the cut and cover method, opening a large ditch with concrete sidewalls responsible for containment. For this method, concrete structures and iron cover the trench and form tunnels through which the subway passes.

The Putzmeister 63Z is a significant enhancement in the process of concreting the station. Selected for this application because of the length of its boom and its high pumping capacity, the pump offers significant time savings, since it can reach areas that traditional boom pumps cannot.

“Until recently, stationary pumps or trailer pumps were typically used for this type of application,” explains sales director of Putzmeister Brazil, Rodrigo Satiro. “But equipment like the 63Z is actually more efficient in some ways because it does not require the assembly of laydown pipes, and it also provides greater pumping capacity.”

The main pour required extensive coordination, including the use of traffic agents, since a large fleet of mixers was responsible for providing the concrete. About 40 mixer trucks, which occupied an entire block in the work area, were used to ensure enough concrete was delivered for the job.

“The 63Z is robust and does the job,” said Rafael Carramenha of RentalMix. “It’s an impressive machine in every way.”

The São Paulo Subway Line 5 is operating between Capão Redondo and Adolfo Pinheiro stations, a stretch approximately five miles long. In total, the project will include 11 new stations, and the line will have integration points with lines 1-Blue in Santa Cruz station, and 2-Verde in Klabin station.