Gotthard Tunnel reopened after fatal fire

28 December 2001: The Gotthard tunnel through the Swiss Alps has been reopened to traffic nearly two months after a fire that killed 11 people. The swift reopening was achieved despite suggestions that the tunnel might still be unsafe, but the upside was that it alleviates circuitous alternatives for those travelling from northern Europe to southern Switzerland and Italy.

New safety rules insist that trucks now must stay 150 metres apart, but a group of 24 environmentalist and transport associations have called for a ban on heavy truck traffic through the tunnel. They say goods should be shifted to the rails from the roads.

The Swiss Transport Club noted that the Mont Blanc tunnel between northern Italy and France, closed since a 1999 fire killed 39, will stay shut until at least next month for safety checks. But a spokesman for Swiss Federal Bureau of Roads, said the new safety rules can eliminate risks of fire.

Only 3,500 trucks will pass through the tunnel 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.

UN transport experts have issued 43 recommendations to improve tunnel safety, including smaller fuel tanks for trucks, fire extinguishers and checks for overheating. It could take three years for them to be mandatory for the more than 700 tunnels in Europe longer than one km. BB