1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186 
Tunnel vise
Page 42
Page 43
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Following a fire, petrol tankers using the Dublin Port Tunnel must be escorted by the fire service. This affects only a handful of trucks so far, but what will happen if the rules are extended to cover other dangerous loads?
Ann Marie Foley
ram September trucks carrying petrol through the Dublin Port Tunnel have to be accompanied by the fire brigade, the rules governing other fuels and dangerous chemicals are under review. Whether escorts are introduced in other tunnels, such as in Cork. will be a matter for local authorities and fire services.
No escorts were needed when the Dublin tunnel opened in December 2006. but fire officers demanded action after a petrol tanker blew a turbo and spewed smoke through the 4.5km tunnel
No alternative
The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) is calling for petrol tankers to avoid the €751m (£525m) tunnel altogether but it was built to remove trucks from Dublin City and residential areas Only trucks with special permits are allowed to enter the city now and the 1RHA is not impressed that fuel tankers are not issued with such permits.
'There is no place for petrol products of that category in the tunnel:' says association president Jimmy Quinn:They should be transported overgrourd as has been done safely for many years. Given that there are relatively few petrol transport movements, the numbers of petrol trucks back on surface wouldn't really be noticed in the overall mix of things.
-It is the triumph of dogma over common sense because petrol tankers would be a legitimate exemption and there is a permit system there for trucks that cannot use the tunnel to use city streets.'
Following the turbo incident in the tunnel, discussions between Dublin City Council, fire officers and the National Roads Authority (NRA) led to the introduction of escorting (see panel) Sean O'Neil of the NRA says: 'We feel the tunnel is safe to operate without escorting because we built and designed the tunnel to handle petroleum vehicles, but we respect the fire brigade's concerns and they have initiated the escorting." Under the new system petrol tankers wait in a designated holding area until a port tunnel vehicle escorts them five at a time to the tunnel entrance. There they are met by a fire brigade vehicle which travels 100m behind the trucks and prevents any traffic from passing them.
Operators' concerns
Wincanton (Ireland) is one of at least five operators delivering fuel out of the port to petrol stations. According to a spokesman: "For the moment it's just petrol. That will be reassessed in the next couple of months and it may include other products like gas and diesel. The flashpoint for diesel and gas is not as high as for petrol. It's working well but if all fuel has to be accompanied there may be problems" The fire brigade escort is free and there is no need to book in advance but the spokesman estimates that if all fuel tankers had to be escorted more than 100 of them would be waiting for their tunnel escort first thing each morning — and that number would double if oil tankers were included. The current holding area has room for only nine trucks.
No southbound escort
Hauliers are also concerned that trucks returning through the tunnel to the port (southbound) are not escorted. "You can return with some petrol still on board, and you take back vapour from petrol stations and that is more dangerous than petrol," Wincanton's spokesman says. "There is nowhere approaching the southbound tunnel that trucks could park and wait to be accompanied.. they haven't really thought this through.
"Trucks are escorted through tunnels elsewhere and we brought this up when they were building the tunnel and we were totally ignored. It is the longest tunnel in a city anywhere in Europe and we only get an escort now as an afterthought — it should have been planned at the beginning."