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Tunnel safety in Europe

Posted: 19 September 2005 | Dimitrios Theologitis, Head of Unit, Peter Schmitz, Seconded National Expert, European Commission, Road Safety Unit (ref.1) | No comments yet

Transport plays a crucial role in supporting European integration and ensuring a high level of well-being among Europe’s citizens. Hence, efficient infrastructure for transport is vital for EU competitiveness to keep costs down and to provide good service. Moreover, European integration requires sufficient access to EU transport networks for all regions. Therefore, the European Union must aim to promote the development and the well-functioning of Trans-European Networks as a key element for the creation of the internal market and the reinforcement of economic and social cohesion2.

Tunnels play an important role within the transport infrastructure network. They facilitate communication between large areas of the Union and are thus essential to long distance transport. They also play a decisive role in the functioning and development of regional economies.

Transport plays a crucial role in supporting European integration and ensuring a high level of well-being among Europe’s citizens. Hence, efficient infrastructure for transport is vital for EU competitiveness to keep costs down and to provide good service. Moreover, European integration requires sufficient access to EU transport networks for all regions. Therefore, the European Union must aim to promote the development and the well-functioning of Trans-European Networks as a key element for the creation of the internal market and the reinforcement of economic and social cohesion2. Tunnels play an important role within the transport infrastructure network. They facilitate communication between large areas of the Union and are thus essential to long distance transport. They also play a decisive role in the functioning and development of regional economies.

Transport plays a crucial role in supporting European integration and ensuring a high level of well-being among Europe’s citizens. Hence, efficient infrastructure for transport is vital for EU competitiveness to keep costs down and to provide good service. Moreover, European integration requires sufficient access to EU transport networks for all regions. Therefore, the European Union must aim to promote the development and the well-functioning of Trans-European Networks as a key element for the creation of the internal market and the reinforcement of economic and social cohesion2.

Tunnels play an important role within the transport infrastructure network. They facilitate communication between large areas of the Union and are thus essential to long distance transport. They also play a decisive role in the functioning and development of regional economies.

Risks have increased in recent years with the ageing of tunnels and changing traffic patterns. Most tunnels have indeed been built according to specifications that have meanwhile been outdated. Either their equipment no longer corresponds to state of the art modern demands, or traffic conditions have significantly changed since their initial opening. Recent tunnel accidents have shown that further to the human tragedy linked to these accidents, a tunnel closed for the necessarily long reconstruction work invariably causes substantial social costs.

The problem of tunnel safety

In its White Paper on transport policy3, the Commission emphasised the need to consider a European Directive on the harmonisation of minimum safety standards to guarantee a high level of safety for the users of tunnels, particularly those in the Trans-European Transport Network.

Because of the confined environment, accidents in tunnels, particularly those involving fires, can have dramatic consequences. The fires in the Mont Blanc and Tauern tunnels in 1999 and in the Gotthard tunnel in 2001 – and most recently in the Fréjus tunnel – have put the risks in tunnels in the spotlight again and called for decisions at political level. In addition, the potential disruption of the transport system following a major fire amplifies these consequences and can cause severe disturbances in the economy of a whole region. The European Council on several occasions, most notably on 14 and 15 December 2001 in Laeken, underlined the urgency to take measures at European level in order to improve tunnel safety4.

Thankfully, the number of accidents in tunnels is relatively limited. However, fires are fairly frequent although, according to international statistics5, the majority of vehicle fires are not caused by accidents, but by self-ignition of the vehicle or its load due to defects in electrical systems or overheated engines. On the other hand, fires with the most serious consequences (fires involving injuries, fatalities or extensive material damage) have mostly been the result of accidents (12 out of the 14 worst fires known worldwide), with the exception of the Mont Blanc tunnel fire, which was caused by self-ignition of a heavy goods vehicle6.

Insufficient co-ordination has been identified as a contributing factor to accidents in trans-border tunnels. Moreover, recent serious accidents show that non-native users are at greater risk of becoming a victim in an accident, due to the lack of harmonisation of safety information, communication and equipment.

Different approaches in the past

In new and renovated road tunnels, structural and technical safety installations usually comply with national and international recommendations, requirements or standards. These safety installations can only be fully effective if they are well operated and combined with an efficient emergency service and correct behaviour on the part of road users. Traffic control and monitoring by the police or other authorities can have a preventive effect. However, the constant and intensive efforts of road construction authorities and traffic police cannot fully eliminate the occurrence of accidents and fires in tunnels.

At international level, the Road Tunnels Committee of the World Road Association (PIARC) has produced a number of recommendations, including a report on fire and smoke control7. Since 1995, PIARC has been conducting a joint project with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on the transportation of dangerous goods through road tunnels, with the support of the European Commission.

In September 1999, the then Conference of Western European Road Directors (WERD) officially requested Switzerland, France, Austria and Italy to create an informal group, (the so-called Alpine Countries group) to evaluate a common approach to this problem. On 14 September 2000, WERD approved the measures for increasing tunnel safety proposed by the Alpine Countries group.

The French Government immediately launched a safety check of all road tunnels longer than 1km. Within three months, a national evaluation committee examined 40 tunnels. One year later, in August 2000, a new requirement on road tunnels safety was approved8. Similar steps were taken in Germany and in Austria.

An ad-hoc group on tunnel safety of the Economic Commission of the United-Nations (UN-ECE) published recommendations in December 200110.

The European Commission also included safety in tunnels in its 5th framework research programme. Research projects on durable and reliable tunnel structures (DARTS), the development of decision-support expert system for crisis management in tunnels (SIRTAKI), methods to upgrade existing tunnels with regard to fires (UPTUN) as well as thematic networks on Fires in Tunnels (FIT and SAFE-T) have been funded. Other proposals, relating principally to prevention and information techniques on vehicles or in tunnels are on course.

In Switzerland, the Federal Roads Authority (FEDRO) set up a task force group in April 1999. The task force studied an extensive range of aspects concerning safety in all tunnels longer than 600m in the Swiss highway network. Some short-term measures to increase safety were immediately implemented while others will be put into effect over time11.

The road tunnel safety directive

As a result of the tragic tunnel accidents in 1999 to 2001, in December 2002 the Commission submitted a proposal for a Directive aimed at ensuring a minimum level of safety in road tunnels on the trans-European network. This proposal of a directive was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in April 200412. Its requirements apply to tunnels longer than 500m in the Trans-European Road Network13. A total of 515 TEN road tunnels of more than 500 m length were identified, around 50 per cent of which are located in Italy. The total length of these tunnels is more than 800km. The directive sets minimum requirements with regard to both organisation of tunnel safety and technical equipment of tunnels:

Organisational requirements

Considering that the diversity and complexity of organisations involved in managing, operating, maintaining, repairing and upgrading tunnels increases the risk of accidents, the directive both establishes the organisational functions of safety at national level and clarifies the different roles and responsibilities. Therefore it foresees that each Member State appoint an Administrative Authority which is the competent authority responsible for all safety related aspects of a tunnel, assisted by an Inspection Body for commissioning visits and periodical technical inspections. In most cases, Member States will have the possibility of appointing existing administrative services as Administrative Authorities for the purposes of the Directive. Responsibility for safety in each tunnel will lie with the Tunnel Manager and the responsibility for control with the appointed Safety Officer.

Technical requirements

The technical requirements are based on works done in international bodies, i.e. the tunnel committee of the world road association (PIARC) and the ad hoc group on tunnel safety of the Economic Commission of the United-Nations (UN-ECE).

INFRASTRUCTURE

Based on a classification system according to length and traffic volume, the main requirements for infrastructure encompass all structural components, ventilation and other electromechanical equipment. In addition, the directive contains a description of, and requirements for, the positioning of obligatory road signs, panels and pictograms relating to safety. Twin-tube tunnels offer much higher safety potential in the event of a fire. The Commission therefore proposes that single-tube tunnels should only be built if a long-term forecast shows that traffic will remain at a reasonable level (lower than 10,000 vehicles per lane and per day).

OPERATION

The main responsibilities for the Tunnel Manager are to secure safety for users and operators, to monitor the efficient performance of all installations, to properly maintain all structural and electromechanical installations. In the event of an incident, the Tunnel Manager has to work closely together with the emergency services. Emergency services must at least be consulted when defining the operation of the tunnel in emergency cases and emergency response plans. Furthermore, there shall be regular emergency exercises.

VEHICLES

Bearing in mind that vehicle construction standards are defined in another framework, (i.e. the European type-approval procedure) all heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches entering tunnels should be equipped with a fire extinguisher. It is also proposed that any additional tanks mounted on heavy-duty vehicles must be empty when passing through tunnels.

ROAD USERS

In-depth analyses of incidents on roads show that an accident is the consequence of one or more failures in a complex system involving drivers, vehicles, the road and its surroundings. Thus, efforts to increase the level of road safety have to aim primarily at preventing human error. The second step will have to ensure that errors made by drivers do not have serious consequences. This directive calls for better information for road users on tunnel safety, such as information campaigns at national level and improved communication between the Tunnel Manager and road users inside a tunnel.

Railway tunnels

Railway tunnels also raise safety problems. Moreover, the construction of very long railway tunnels is planned in the EU for the coming decades, e.g. the Lyon-Turin base tunnel (52km) and the Brenner base tunnel (55km). Safety requirements for railway tunnels will be addressed in technical specifications, to be adopted in the context of the railway interoperability directives. The production of the Safety in Railway Tunnels TSI (technical specification for interoperability) has been requested by the European Commission under a mandate delivered on September 30 2002 to the AEIF (European Association for Rail Interoperablity). A draft TSI is now available and has been submitted for the consultation of social partners and users’ organisations in accordance with article 6 of directive 2001/16/EC14. The aim of the TSI is to specify the measures that are necessary for harmonising safety levels for new and upgraded tunnels on the TEN. The TSI is applicable to all tunnels (new, upgraded, renewed and re-opened) ranging from 1km to 20km in length. Tunnels with a length greater than 20km require a special safety assessment.

For the purpose of producing the TSI, a group of experts in the field of railway safety has been assembled. In developing the TSI, particular attention has been paid to the work of the UIC railway safety in tunnels working group and UNECE. Both groups have produced recommendations for safety measures15.

In any case it should be emphasised that in particular for very long tunnels there is a preference for rail rather than road, not only from an ecological but also from a safety point of view. It is generally considered that, especially if the share of goods transport is high, rail is the more appropriate mode of transport.

Costs

Costs play a key role in improving both road and rail tunnel safety. Improvement costs include three components: refurbishment and equipment, operational costs, and costs of traffic delay caused by the refurbishment. Costs for refurbishing road tunnels in accordance with the full set of requirements of the directive can be very high, because tunnels are the most expensive pieces of road infrastructure. For this reason, the Directive allows Member States to implement less costly measures under certain conditions where they achieve a sufficient safety level. For this purpose, a system differentiates requirements according to traffic volumes and length and Member States are allowed to accept alternative risk reduction measures when refurbishment costs are excessive. However, these results clearly demonstrate the need to prioritise tunnel safety investments, starting with the tunnels with the highest traffic volume and the greatest risk of accidents.

The total cost for the implementation of the directive is in the range of 2.6 billion to 6.3 billion Euros. The latter figure assumes that all existing tunnels will be adapted to meet the provisions of new tunnels. The lower figure is an estimate where certain modifications in tunnel structure are replaced by alternative or substituting measures, such as operational measures or even traffic restrictions, which might also be able to avoid the closure of the tunnel in case of structural modifications. Substantial reductions of costs for refurbishment can also be yielded if necessary works are linked to major maintenance works. By carefully timing these works it may well be possible to upgrade the safety level of an existing tunnel at marginal costs by only replacing tunnel equipment such as ventilation systems or lighting by more appropriate systems when their normal lifespan is over.

Refurbishment and equipment account for the majority of costs, though traffic delay is estimated to account for one quarter of the costs. The costs incurred by the Directive will be borne by the Member States. The necessary refurbishment of existing tunnels shall be carried out according to a schedule and finished April 2014. This period may be extended by five years for Member States whose total tube length of existing tunnels divided by the total length of the part of the Trans-European Road Network located on their territory exceeds the European average. Member States have to submit refurbishment plans to the European Commission by April 200716.

Direct costs of tunnel accidents have been evaluated on the basis of a review of the recent literature and the collection of limited data on recent accidents. They are estimated at 210 million Euros per year. Indirect costs on the economy resulting from the closure of a tunnel should also be taken into account. Following the Mont Blanc accident and its subsequent tunnel closure, studies calculated these costs to be within a range of 300 million to 450 million Euros per year for Italy alone17. Significant potential indirect benefits of this Directive should also be considered. Tunnel closure as a consequence of an accident is prejudicial not only to the regional economy, but also to the national and in some cases even to the whole European economy. It increases transport costs, reduces the competitiveness of the areas affected by the closure and has an adverse effect on road safety, as it tends to lengthen journeys, thus increasing risk exposure for all road users for a potentially long period.

Conclusions

The recent tunnel fires have raised the question of the sustainability of transport, particularly in mountainous areas. In this respect, a coherent approach to developing medium and long-term solutions, including a shift in transport modes, is one of the priorities set out in the White Paper on Transport Policy. The measures of the road tunnel safety directive will largely help to reduce the risk of accidents in tunnels. It is strongly recommended to the Member States to apply these standards also to other road tunnels that are not part of the trans-European network. Similar initiatives for the safety of rail tunnels are currently under consideration.

References

  1. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not constitute an official position of the European Commission.
  2. Treaty establishing the European Community (consolidated text), OJ C 325, 24/12/2002, Articles 154, 155 and 156.
  3. Commission White Paper of 12 September 2001: “European transport policy for 2010: time to decide”, COM (2001) 370.
  4. Presidency conclusions – Laeken, 14 and 15 December 2001, SN 300/1/01.
  5. Sécurité Routière dans les Tunnels, Comité AIPCR des Tunnels routiers, (1995) ISBN2-84060-036-6
  6. Rapport de la mission administrative d’enquête technique sur l’incendie survenu le 24 mars 1999 au tunnel routier du Mont Blanc, Ministère d’ Interieur et Ministère de l’Equipement des Transports et du Logement, Paris, Juin 1999
  7. PIARC (1999) Committee on Road Tunnels, Fire and Smoke Control in Road Tunnels, Ref. 05.05.B, 1999, AIPCR/PIARC, La Défense, France, ISBN 2-84060-064-1
  8. Circulaire du 20 août 2000 relative aux tunnels routiers.
  9. Workshop on the safety of road and railway tunnels, November 1999, “Brandschutz in Verkehrstunneln”, FE 82.166/199/B3 der Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen, Schlussbericht Dezember 2000, BMVBW, Bonn.
  10. Recommendations of the Group of Experts on Safety in Road Tunnels, Geneva, 10.12.2001
  11. ASTRA Tunnel Task Force Report Schlußbericht vom 23. Mai 2000, Bundesamt für Straßen, Bern, Schweiz
  12. Directive 2004/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on minimum safety requirements for tunnels in the Trans-European Road Network, OJ L 167, 30/04/2004, P. 39 – 91.
  13. Decision 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European network, OJ L 228, 9/9/1996.
  14. Directive 2001/16/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2001 on the interoperability of the trans-European conventional rail system, OJ L 110 , 20/04/2001 P. 1 – 27.
  15. UIC Codex 779-9, Aug 2003 and UNECE TRANS/AC.9/9, 1st Dec 2003.
  16. Directive 2004/54/EC, Art. 11.
  17. Valutazione degli effetti economici sui sistemi regionali e nazionali della chiusura del traforo del Monte Bianco, Prometeia, May 1999