TUNNEL VISION
Page 50
Page 51
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Frejus Tunnel is well served by A-class roads, offers excellent facilities and was a British idea in the first place, yet few British trucks use it. We have been to take a look at it.
• As Europe hurtles towards a new era of road transport sans frontieres we have been taking a look at one transalpine route which links the north of Europe to the south.
If we were in the business of awarding honours to the oldest road links in Europe, an award would go to the road between Turin in the north of Italy and Chambery in the east of France — the Mont Cenis pass.
Not even the venerable Mont Cenis, however, has been unaffected by the advances made in civil engineering. This historic pass has had to make way for higher-capacity road tunnels as, with a vehicle limit of 19 tonnes, it has become less attractive to modern operators.
When the Mont Blanc Alpine tunnel was opened in the sixties plans were already afoot to open a second tunnel. These were realised in 1980 when the Frejus tunnel was opened to link two major industrial conurbations, Lyon and Milan. It offers a natural route for the north European hauliers driving to Italy and eastern Europe, and the 12.8Iun tunnel boasts state-of-the-art fire and security installations. Setec, the independent engineering group that is now working on the Channel Tunnel project, built the Frejus project, starting back in 1962. Senator Jean Dumas, the mayor of Chambery, was President De Gaulle's Secretary of State for Tourism at the time. He says: "The whole idea was really an English one. It is thanks to the English that the Alps have become a major tourist industry. Tourism is always good for the economy, but I was concerned with expanding industrially. Italy's prime industrial region is in the North, while the Rhone corridor is a great contributor to the French economy. It was vital to open up communications to link these two directly.
"The Mont Blanc tunnel performs a more touristic function — I see the Frejus tunnel as being tailored for the road haulier."
The Frejus has its drawbacks, however. For a British haulier on his way to Italy, French road tolls may be sufficiently high to persuade him to avoid France entirely and use Germany's free motorways, crossing Austria and the Brenner Pass before descending into Italy. This is not a recommended winter route of course, and Germany is threatening to impose road tolls.
Access to both the Frejus tunnel and Mont Blanc is excellent, the former being less prone to snow and ice due to its lower altitude. The Frejus is fed by routes nationales — British A-road equivalents — which are mostly dual carriageway, with gentler inclines. Unfortunately, access on the Italian side of the tunnel is less suited to lorries, particularly the road linking the tunnel to the first major landmark 40krn away, the Susa autoport. This winding and treacherous route will be replaced in 1992 by a purpose-built motorway for which, it would seem when looking at the construction sites, whole mountains have been levelled.
HAZARDOUS CARGO
Despite that Italian road link the French claim the Frejus tunnel is tailor-made for road haulage. About 5Ium before the tunnel entrance on the French side is the Freney autoport — a vast truck park which offers diesel, excellent restaurants, showers and Customs clearance facilities as well as veterinary personnel who can take charge of livestock in case of delays caused by broken-down vehicles, strikes and the like.
The Italian equivalent, Susa autoport, offers the same standard of service. The tunnel authorities also provide all security arrangements for hazardous cargo. It is an unfortunate quirk in the law that hazardous goods vehicles are subject to inspection by French customs officers before leaving France, even if they have already passed safely right across France. Italian border police repeat the procedure on the return trip. For those hauling dangerous substances, an escort is provided for the length of the tunnel for a fee of 300FF (roughly k30).
The tunnel has an effective emergency service. One Belgian tanker had a tyre burst just as it entered the tunnel on the French side. The driver was immediately directed to a safe parking area and given help to replace the offending wheel with the spare. In all, he was delayed no more than 35 minutes.
The director of Frejus operations, Michel Bailly, 43, was anxious to demonstrate how smoothly things work and how quickly trucks are moved. During our visit his job was not made easier by an Italian Customs officers' work-to-rule which followed an Italian bank holiday. A tail-back of 1,000 trucks at Mont Blanc and another 1,000 at the Brenner Pass were reported earlier that afternoon. We saw a tail-back of 100 or so trucks 6Icm before the French Frejus entrance, but Bailly was not expecting any trouble: "There is nothing we can do to stop the. Italians from striking. The 1985 strike still sends shivers down our backs," he said.
In 1985 French owner-operators were forced to stop at the Mont-Blanc tunnel by an Italian customs strike. The French truckers called for a total shut-down of all road transport services when the French Government was unable to persuade the Italian Government to resolve the dispute. The French strike lasted three weeks and many operators went broke.
PLAY HAVOC
"A build-up of blocked trucks can occur, however, and this will play havoc with traffic flow. I am pleased to report that today over 2,000 trucks went through Frejus in under 20 hours, a record for us since we opened. This tunnel was designed to take three times the current capacity," said Bailly.
The Frejus accommodates 750,000 vehicles each year, 330,000 of which are HGVs. The tunnel's managers are anxious to attract more British traffic, which currently accounts for 3% of HGV traffic through the tunnel.
Says Jean Charles de Tissot, managing director of the Societe Francaise du Tunnel Routier de Frejus: "I have been to England many times in the past year to talk to hauliers and operators. I have approached the RHA and ETA to tell them of a discount scheme we can offer them. We can offer as much as 25% off the price of the tunnel toll. I don't know why, but people in Britain either do not seem to know about this route or do not want to save money. I believe the Frejus tunnel offers a better and cheaper route to southern Europe than any other pass or tunnel."
We spoke to a number of drivers who use the Frejus, some of them British. One, driving for Brian Yeardley, said: "It is easier to get to than the Mont Blanc and the facilities at either end are good. If it wasn't for striking Italians I'd say this route was fantastic."
The Frejus Tunnel operators offer an account system to operators of all sizes. The scheme applies to all two-axle vehicles with a wheelbase exceeding 3.3 metres, and those with three axles or more. Benefits for account holders include deferred payment (all journeys are billed on the 15th of the following month and debited by banker's order) and the use of a special credit-card.
The driver is given a receipt at each crossing and a statement of account makes it possible to check the date, time and direction of the crossing.
For smaller companies a card is supplied which is valid for one year. It costs 21/2 times the price of a return journey and entitles the holder to a 12.5% reduction on each return journey. The card will pay for itself after 21 round trips or 42 single journeys. For 100 crossings in a year the saving works out at 7.5% per trip.
For larger firms the card is supplied free of charge. Provided the firm makes a minimum of 100 journeys each year, each trip will be billed at half the price of a return journey, equal to a 20% discount. A further sliding scale reduction applies when a company makes over 100 trips through the tunnel per year.
In France and Belgium various trader partnerships and transport services agencies enable all firms to take advantage of the lowest possible terms, regardless of their size.
by Joris Minne