Brussels, 27/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - The question of road tunnel safety (examination of this directive is expected in 2016) has been thrust into the institutional debate, following the collision of a bus and the top of a tunnel wall in the Lille suburbs on Sunday 26 July.
The bus in question was coming from Spain and was literally “decapitated” when it was travelling through the tunnel. 28 people were injured, 4 of them seriously. According to the French press, the same tunnel was the source of a similar accident involving a van last June.
The Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, stated: “Today's bus accident in France is a painful reminder that tunnel safety is crucial and needs special attention”.
Sources from the European institutions indicated “The question of road tunnel safety will be reopened by the European Commission next year”. In 2016, the Commission will carry out an assessment of the 2004/54 directive on tunnel safety in the trans-European road network. This assessment will look at the question of harmonising national legislation for road tunnel safety when these tunnels are longer than 500m (the Lille tunnel is not included in this category). Based on the 2001 White Paper on European transport policy up to 2010, the European directive constitutes the EU response to the serious fire that engulfed the Mont Blanc tunnel in March 1999, which led to the deaths of around 40 people.
Since then, tunnels have been subject to regular evaluations carried out within the framework of the European Internal Assessment Programme (“EuroTap”). Between 1999 and 2012, more than 300 tunnels were assessed in Europe (see EUROPE 10716). According to the 2004 directive, all tunnels of more than 500m have to respect European security requirements in application up to 2019. (Pascal Hansens)