Switzerland

New Ventilation for the Belchen Tunnel

After the fires in the Mont Blanc, Tauern and Gotthard, in the interim safety regulations have been introduced to protect motorists and emergency services. For example smoke is to be removed quickly in the event of fire. The redevelopment programme of the Federal Office for Highways (Astra), which deals with ventilation, evacuation paths, safety facilities and energy supply for the 220 tunnels on the Swiss highway network, is reckoning with costs of around 1.2 bill. CHF (0.86 bill. euros) by 2016.

A number of improvements [1-6] have been carried out on the two bores of the 3.2 km long Belchen...

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