Open date set for Mont Blanc
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Mont Blanc Tunnel will reopen in Autumn 2000 following the fire earlier this year which killed 40 people.
Following an investigation into the incident, the French Transport Minister, Jean-Claude Gaysset, and the Italian Public Works Minister, Enrico Michelli, say that the tunnel will open again within 18 months once improved safety measures are in place.
Martin Marmy, the secretary-general of the International Road Transport Union, says: The report clearly states that it is not commercial traffic which is the origin of the tragic event but the lack of co-ordination in the institutional and organisational operation of the tunnel and the insufficient equipment and construction features of the tunnel itself."
He welcomes the report's safety recommendations but is calling for realistic and practical criteria for deciding which vehicles should be banned from using the tunnel.