Mont Blanc tunnel

Tunnel exit on the French side

The Mont-Blanc-Tunnel ( French Tunnel du Mont-Blanc , Italian Traforo del Monte Bianco ) is a road tunnel through the Montblanc massif that connects the cities of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc in the Haute-Savoie ( France ) with Courmayeur ( A5 ) in the Aosta Valley ( Italy ) and is an important link between Geneva and France ( A40 ) on the west side and Turin and Northern Italy ( A5 ) on the east side.

The Mont Blanc tunnel consists of a single tube with a double lane (two-way traffic). The project for a second tube was initially rejected because of a lack of funding and then because of resistance from the residents concerned.

facts and figures

Tunnel exit on the Italian side

The total length of the tunnel is 11.6 km. The entry height on the French side is 1274  m , on the Italian side at 1381  m slm. The longitudinal section of the tunnel shows the course of an inverted V to ensure the drainage of the tunnel water on both sides. The highest point in the route is just below the Aiguille du Midi mountain .

In 1949, an agreement was signed between France and Italy to build a tunnel. After the parliamentary hurdles had been overcome, two operating companies were founded:

• On the French side, ATMB ( Autoroutes et tunnels du Mont-Blanc ), founded on April 30, 1958;
• On the Italian side, the SITMB ( Società Italiana per azioni per il Traforo del Monte Bianco ), founded on September 1, 1957.

Each operating company is responsible for one half of the tunnel.

The drilling began in 1959; the breakthrough in 1962 with less than 13 cm axial offset. The opening ceremony took place on July 19, 1965.

traffic

In 2010 the average traffic volume was 4945 vehicles per day, i.e. approx. 1.80 million vehicles per year. In 2011 there was an average of 5113 vehicles per day (approx. 1.87 million vehicles per year).

The passage of the tunnel is subject to a toll . A passage by car from Italy costs 44.20 euros, from France 43.50 euros. (Different due to different VAT rates). A return ticket for the return journey costs only around 11 euros more (as of January 1, 2017).

Although the vehicles can queue up at the toll station in several lines at the same time, the control of the barrier system only regulates a limited number of vehicles per time unit in order to ensure that there is sufficient distance between the vehicles when entering the tunnel. A minimum speed of 50 km / h and a maximum speed of 70 km / h apply inside the tunnel. The distance to the vehicle in front should be 150 meters. Trucks are led through the tunnel in blocks of five - also with a large safety distance to the vehicle in front - with an escort vehicle in front. These safety measures are consequences of the tunnel fire in 1999 (see below).

Pedestrians can use the bus to cross the tunnel . Bicycles can also be taken if you reserve in good time .

The tunnel fire of 1999

Memorial (2010)

On March 24, 1999, the engine of a Belgian truck caught fire in the tunnel . The event turned into a catastrophe that cost 39 people their lives and led to the tunnel being closed for three years.

Fire protection engineers see a thrown away cigarette butt as the cause , which is likely to have ignited the air filter of the Volvo FH12 . The driver of the truck left his smoking vehicle roughly in the middle of the tunnel and escaped the fire. Perhaps he could have driven out of the tunnel and thus prevented the fatal consequences of the accident. Aided by the truck load of margarine and flour and the ventilation in the pipe, the fire quickly turned into an inferno. Some vehicles that followed were able to turn around and get their occupants and themselves to safety; trucks in particular could not do this. Both the inmates who remained in their vehicles and some who tried to escape on foot died from toxic smoke or heat. Some died in fire protection rooms that were not designed for a fire of this magnitude. The fire could only be brought under control 53 hours after it broke out.

When preparing the events, the weakness of the concept of two operating companies became apparent. As mentioned before, the operating companies divide the tunnel into two equally long halves. Geographically, the border between Italy and France runs much closer to Italy's tunnel entrance. So there is an 1840 m long area that is looked after by the Italian operating company SITMB, but is on French soil and is therefore subject to French legislation.

The burning truck was in this zone. Although a fire alarm was given on the Italian side at 10:54 a.m. inside the tunnel, it was obviously not clear that this alarm message could not be received on the French side.

The French fire brigade only received a call from the French operating company 4.5 minutes later. The Italian fire brigade only registered the call from SITMB at 11:05 a.m.

The fire protection precautions proved to be completely inadequate during the major fire. The ventilation system couldn't get the toxic smoke out of the tunnel fast enough, so that many people died from the smoke. The fire protection rooms were also not designed to withstand longer fires with temperatures of over 1000 ° C. The fire in the Mont Blanc tunnel lasted over 50 hours, but the old fire protection rooms were only designed for small fires of up to a few hours.

As a consequence of the accident, there is only one control room that is operated jointly by both companies. The fire protection rooms were redesigned and now offer significantly more protection against hot and long-lasting fires. With the new ventilation system, the air can be directed in a targeted manner and, in the event of a fire, the toxic smoke gases can be blown out of the tunnel. Under the impression of another accident that happened a good two months later in the Austrian Tauern tunnel and in which 12 people lost their lives, a heated discussion about the safety of tunnel structures developed.

The fire trial took place in Bonneville in 2005 . From January 31st, the Bonneville Tribunal de Grande Instance discussed the guilt and punishments of the accident. The trial ended at the end of April with suspended sentences of varying amounts for the defendants. The security chief Gérard Roncoli received the highest sentence of the 13 convicts with six months in prison and a further 24 months on probation. There was no clear guilt finding. In 2006, the families received a total of 27 million euros as compensation for the death of their relatives.

After the accident, the tunnel was closed until March 2002.

On the French side, about 1.5 km after exiting the tunnel, in a 180-degree curve, there is a memorial for the 39 people who died in the fire.

The second episode of the first season of the English documentary series by National Geographic Channel from Seconds Before the Disaster deals with the tunnel fire. Episode 43 of the radio play series Revelation 23 is about conspiracy theories in connection with the misfortune, but according to the prologue, facts and fictional plot are deliberately mixed with one another.

As a result of the accident, the initially planned length of 650 m between the cross passages (connecting tunnels for pedestrians between the two tubes) in the Gotthard Base Tunnel was halved to 325 m.

Web links

Commons : Mont Blanc Tunnel  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Mont Blanc tunnel. In: Structurae
• TunnelMB: Joint operator side of ATMB and SITMAB (French, English, Italian, German)
• ATMB operator site (French, English, Italian)
• taz article Dispute on the roof of Europe , April 4, 2002

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Even the tunnel never quite conquered Mont Blanc. Die Zeit , August 14, 2012, accessed on December 9, 2012 (page 1, last paragraph). 
2. ↑ TMB tariffs. GEIE-TMB, accessed December 12, 2017 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Mark Gardiner: I wrote a story that became a legend. Then I discovered it wasn't true , Columbia Journalism Review, March 21, 2019, accessed March 23, 2019.
4. ^ Infernal conflagration in the Mont Blanc tunnel. Atropedia - The Accident Database, February 28, 2009, archived from the original on January 16, 2013 ; Retrieved March 28, 2011 . 
5. ↑ Wolfgang Blum: Inferno in the tunnel. Die Zeit , May 12, 1999, accessed on March 28, 2011 . 
6. ↑ This catastrophe could have been avoided. Die Zeit , July 27, 2005, accessed December 9, 2012 . 
7. ^ Commemoration on Mont Blanc. n-tv , March 24, 2009, accessed December 9, 2012 (last paragraph). 
8. ↑ Deborah Stoffel: Fine tuning up to the opening . In: Neue Luzerner Zeitung . October 17, 2015, p. 5 .

Coordinates: 45 ° 51 '  N , 6 ° 55'  E