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The increasing number of large-scale tunnel projects for road
and rail traffic across Australia presents serious challenges for
emergency services workers who are dealing with incidents such
as crashes and fires.
The effects of heat and smoke are magnified, travel distances in
breathing apparatus can be extended and the overall resource
requirements can be significantly greater than for a similar
incident above ground.
<strong>QFRS</strong> Station Officer and 2009 Churchill Fellow Shan Raffel
completed a two-month study tour to North America and Europe
in 2010, examining the procedures, training and equipment used
by fire services and other authorities with experience in dealing
with tunnel emergencies.
In the second story of a three-part series, Emergency looks at the
European leg of Shan’s study tour in June and July 2010, which
included visits to Germany, Austria, Denmark and Sweden.
T unnel safety is a key topic in Europe as
the region boasts some of the world’s
longest and busiest road and rail tunnels.
Masterpieces of underground transport
engineering can be found throughout
Scandinavia and continental Europe.
Essential for maintaining transport links
within and between nations, tunnels play
an important role in the development of
the European Union’s economies.
These massive pieces of infrastructure
range from Norway’s 24.5km Laerdal and
24.2km Rogfast Subsea tunnels, to the
50.5km Channel Tunnel between Britain
and France, to Paris’ 10km A86 West
Tunnel which has a double deck for light
vehicles and a separate 7.5km single
deck for all traffic including heavy goods
vehicles, to the record-setting 57km
Gotthard Base Rail Tunnel now under
construction in Switzerland.
Shan Raffel said fires in the Mont
Blanc (between France and Italy) and
Tauern (Austria) tunnels in 1999 and the
Gotthard tunnel in Switzerland in 2001
killed or injured more than 110 people,
seriously disrupted road transport and
focused international attention on tunnel
safety in Europe.
‘The incidents and growing safety
concerns prompted the European
Commission (EC) to approve Directive
2004/54/EC in April of 2004,’ he said.
‘This document sets the minimum
safety requirements for tunnels over 500
metres long in the Trans-European road
network, to ensure a uniform and high
level of safety.
‘All new tunnels are required to comply
as a minimum and a 10-year target has
been set for the upgrading of existing
tunnels,’ he said.
Shan’s first European stop was the
Subway Training Centre operated by the
Frankfurt Fire Department in Germany.
The training centre has a mobile
tunnel education vehicle with a scale
representation of a 12m tunnel section,
complete with examples of the key fire
and life safety features commonly fitted in
modern German road tunnels.
‘To educate motorists about these
safety features and provide information
on safe driving techniques, the vehicle
can be transported to training locations
anywhere in the German state of Lower
Saxony, and will soon be available for use
nationwide,’ Shan said.
While in Germany, Shan also visited
the International Exhibition for Rescue,
Fire Prevention, Disaster Relief, Safety and
Security in Leipzig. Known as Interschutz,
this trade fair is held every five years and
attracts more than 120 000 visitors and
1100 exhibitors.
‘Of particular interest was a
presentation outlining tests conducted
in southern Germany that involved
www.communitysafety.qld.gov.au Emergency December <strong>2011</strong> 19