UPDATE - Swiss Alpine tunnel reopens as safety debate flares
Date: 24-Dec-01
Country: SWITZERLAND
Author: Remy Steinegger
Environmentalists condemned the rush to open the 17-km (10-mile) tunnel, despite new measures to prevent another fatal blaze like the one on October 24, when two trucks crashed head-on and sparked a smoke-spewing inferno.
Trucks were to start passing through on Saturday, escaping costly circuitous alternatives to the direct Gotthard, which links northern Europe to southern Switzerland and Italy.
New safety rules state trucks must now stay 150 metres (yards) apart and travel in alternate one-way traffic.
Reopening the tunnel has also reopened debate over the wisest way to move swelling volumes of goods and people through the mighty mountain range dividing the continent.
A coalition of environmental and transport associations called for a ban on heavy traffic through the tunnel, insisting goods be shifted to the rails.
Oskar Epp, an official from the canton (state) of Uri at the north end of the tunnel, insisted Switzerland learn from the tragedy and stop traffic from overloading the tunnel.
"This tunnel, the environment, the residents of the cantons of Ticino and Uri can not be overrun by transit traffic. The load has to be bearable," he said at a reopening ceremony.
The ecologist Swiss Transport Club compared the Gotthard situation to that of the Mont Blanc tunnel between northern Italy and France, closed since a 1999 fire killed 39 and to stay shut until at least next month for safety checks.
"While French authorities seem to leave nothing to chance when it comes to tunnel safety, only one factor counts for Swiss transport policy: reopening the Gotthard tunnel to heavy transport as soon as possible," the group said.
REASSURE MOTORISTS
Michael Gehrken, spokesman for Swiss Federal Bureau of Roads, said the new safety rules should reassure motorists.
"The biggest catastrophic danger stems from fire, and fires in tunnels come most probably from head-on or rear-end collisions. These measures can eliminate these risks," he said.
Alternate one-way traffic for trucks has become standard in other major Swiss mountain tunnels. It cuts the risk of accidents but also reduces capacity, to the chagrin of Swiss truckers who do not want to stand idle for hours at a time.
Some 3,500 trucks will pass through the Gotthard each day rather than the 5,500 before the October accident.
Swiss customs officials now hand out safety brochures to truck drivers, and the federal government works with Swiss cantons to make tunnel safety part of truck drivers' training.
The Austrian automobile association OeAMTC welcomed the reopening of the Gotthard, which will relieve pressure on the Brenner Pass route into Italy.
Fire killed 12 in Austria's Tauern tunnel near Salzburg in 1999. Another small tunnel fire in Austria broke out last week.
U.N. transport experts have issued 43 recommendations to improve tunnel safety, including smaller fuel tanks for trucks, fire extinguishers and checks for overheating.
