Experts demand tunnel safety push

More tunnel tragedies are predicted if safety improvements are not made

By CNN's Graham Jones

GENEVA, Switzerland (CNN) -- European road experts called for urgent safety improvements in tunnels across Europe in the wake of the Gotthard tunnel tragedy.

"The problem is getting worse and will continue to get worse unless measures are taken," Wim Westerhuis, Director General of the Geneva-based International Road Federation, told CNN.

Westerhuis called for the immediate doubling of the major European tunnels so that tragedies like that in the Gotthard tunnel are not repeated.

He said the problem was that the tunnels were built to the standards of the time -- but traffic volumes had increased dramatically.

The Gotthard tunnel was used by 1.2 million vehicles over 3.5 tonnes in 2000, he said, and the Frejus tunnel between France and Italy by 1.5 million.

"The tunnels just can't cope."

Having an accident in the open air, he added, was bad enough but in an enclosed space tragedy could lead to disaster.

RESOURCES Timeline:Recent tunnel tragedies  Picture gallery: Swiss disaster

The IRF, an independent organisation calling for improved road systems, says that in tunnels with a single bore and traffic in lanes facing each other "accidents like this are bound to happen."

It wants major spending programmes by governments -- notably the Alpine nations of Switzerland, France, Austria and Italy -- to double at least the top five the major tunnels.

"For high density traffic tunnels like the St Gotthard, this means building a second tube to separate traffic in the two directions and a third escape tube. This work should have been completed by now and not still be a subject of debate.

"Many of the key traffic tunnels no longer conform to the needs of the European economy nor to the safety standards users and taxpayers have the right to expect."

Westerhuis said the Mont Blanc tunnel, closed after the March 1999 fire which killed 39, had made "significant" money but this had not been ploughed back into improvements.

The U.N. Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) also called for a raft of new safety measures to make tunnels safer.

It said these should include smaller fuel tanks for heavy goods vehicles, equipping tunnels with heat-seeking cameras, and periodic testing of drivers.

ECE experts called for information campaigns on how to behave in tunnels, roadside checks of heavy goods vehicles for overheating and other defects, and the appointment of safety officers for tunnels over 1,000 metres.

They also recommended that heavy goods vehicles carry less fuel.

Distances between heavy goods vehicles should be better controlled and all vehicles should carry a fire extinguisher, the experts said.

"The main cause of accidents in tunnels or outside of tunnels is road users' behaviour. The bulk of the measures concern that," Jose Capel Ferrer, director of ECE's transport division, told Reuters.

"It is important to raise awareness of how dangerous it is to drive in a tunnel and how to behave in case of a breakdown or accident," he said.

The findings of the ECE, which came out of a July meeting of experts from 15 countries stretching from Britain to Russia, could eventually become legally binding on ECE member states.

Twenty countries in the Geneva-based ECE -- whose members include Canada, Israel and the United States -- have tunnels longer than one kilometre.

Norway boasts 199 such tunnels, Italy 175, Switzerland 67, Austria 55, France 46 and Germany 36.

Ferrer said the Gotthard and Mont Blanc tunnel accidents highlighted the problems for governments seeking to establish safe routes for trucks conveying dangerous goods.