The 60 tonne CAT 345 has been working on the high profile Tyne Tunnel project, excavating between the supporting props on the south approach. Whilst other machines were rehandling material at the base of the excavation, the long reach used its digging power to excavate the hard material down to around 15m depth. For high rates of production this was fitted with a bucket capacity in excess of 1.5m3 achieving over 200 tonnes per hour.