This morning at 0600 CET (Central European Time) a fire broke out on a BLS Cargo train transiting the Simplon Tunnel from Domodossola, Italy to Brig, Switzerland. All services via the tunnel were cancelled and a replacement bus service was organized via the Simplon Pass. After a short period this too had to be cancelled because smoke billowing out of the south pertal of the Simplon Tunnel obscured the roadway at Iselle, Italy. The fire was finally put out and the damaged BLS train was dragged into Brig at about 1800 CET. Inspection are being carried out on the other bore of the Simplon Tunnel with the hope that limited service can be resumed tomorrow.
So much for European perfection in rail freight operations.
How about European passenger operations? Plus, freight and pasenger trains can coexist on the same right-of-way?
I’ve read and seen on tv reports of tunnel fires over the years, like the Channel tunnel fires in 2006, 2008 and 1996, and the Mount Blanc fire in 1999. The Chunnel fires were all caused by trucks riding on trains, and the Mount Blanc fire was caused by a truck catching fire.
What I don’t get is why all these nasty truck fires in tunnels? Do trucks catch fire by themselves all that often? It’s rare that you hear of nasty truck fires on the highways. And these non-tunnel fires are so infrequent, that considering the actual mileage of these modern tunnels in comparison to the mileage of the rest of the highway system, it sure seems as though there are a disproportionate number of fires in tunnels.
What’s hard to understand about this fire is that the freight car was supposed to be carrying White Goods (appliances).
The latest Channel Tunnel fire was attributed to a faulty electrical system in the truck. It had been noticed that the headlights didn’t go off when the driver shut down the truck, he had fiddled with the light switch and finally they did go off. The loading inspectors noticed this but failed to report it. With nobody in or around the vehicle for nearly half an hour before the fire was detected there was plenty of time for the truck to become fully engulfed. If the driver had been with the vehicle (driving it) he likely would have been able to put out the fire before the vehicle was destroyed.
Sounds sort of like what we have here. The railroads are regulated and severely inspected primarily due to their fixed location, whereas the trucking industry not exactly having its own fixed plant makes the inspection process somewhat spotty at best. Couple that with the exponentially increased amount of drivers vs railroad employees and you have an inspection system that is overworked. I’ve seen the efficiency and high maintenance of Swiss railways (albeit the BLS is the odd private system), but I wonder just how much each and every truck can be inspected. Whatever, tunnel fires are major headaches for any operating department. Sounds like this one came out as well as could be expected without any loss of life.
A large amount of the truck drivers in Europe today are from the former Soviet Bloc countries and have limited ability to speak and read German, French, or English. Maintenance of their vehicles is also hit and miss. This is part of the problem, during the last Channel Tunnel fire the drivers riding along in the accommodation coach panicked and some of the effort of the first fire personnel had to be diverted to finding and rescuing them.
Limited service resumed today through the undamaged southbound bore with a shuttle train in each direction between Brig and Domodossola. The service is hourly in each direction. It is planned to resume the Rolling Highway operations on Monday. With the Simplon Tunnel closed the highway backup to use the Gotthard Road Tunnel was initially 11 km. (about 3 hours) later decreasing to about 2 hours. The Sn Bernardino Pass highway was worse.
Newest explanation (still hypothetical). A cover sheet on one of the freight cars had not been fixed carefully enough, touched the catenary and caught fire. The Simplon tunnel has 15kV / 16,7 Hz AC. The train hauled appliances and steel, none of which especially fire-prone. Swiss Federal Railways have not yet been able to assess the damage, however, tracks and/or catenay could be damaged because the temperature of the fire is estimated at some 800 degrees Celsius (>1000 Kelvin). (What is with the signaliing system’s wires?) The Italian autorities will investigate the cause of the fire because it happened in the Italian section.The freight cars will be handed over to them. The locomotives have been hauled to Brig in Switzerland.
The Simplon-Tunnel is 12 miles long, two bores, each single track. There is a connection in the center where you can change from one tunnel to the other. Swiss Federal Railways hope to reopen the non-damaged tunnel and the northern section of the damaged one, thus reducing the bottle-neck from 12 to 6 miles of single track.
The Simplon tunnel has a mix of freight and passenger trains, based on the timetable 2010/2011:
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14 daily eurotrains from Basel or Geneva to Milan (both directions)
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8 trains from Brig (northern end of the tunnel) to Domodossola at the beginning of the grade to the Simplon tunnels
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several locals which run only through the tunnel from Brig to Iselle
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12 auto-trains which run only through the tunnel from Brig to Iselle. They haul autos and motocycles on flat cars (roll-on-roll-of) plus passengers.
I don’t know how many freight trains travel through the Simplon tunnel. Over the pentecost weekend, freight travel is certainly lower than during the week, while passenger travel would have been stronger.
The Montblanc tunnel is a road tunnel. A fire there in 1999, caused by a truck, killed 39 persons. In 2001, 11 persons killed in a fire in the Gotthard road tunnel after two trucks colli
I have my doubts about the efficiency of the Italian investigation, hopefully the Swiss will “look over their shoulder” during the process.
[quote]
The Simplon-Tunnel is 12 miles long, two bores, each single track. There is a connection in the center where you can change from one tunnel to the other. Swiss Federal Railways hope to reopen the non-damaged tunnel and the northern section of the damaged one, thus reducing the bottle-neck from 12 to 6 miles of single track.
The Simplon tunnel has a mix of freight and passenger trains, based on the timetable 2010/2011:
-
14 daily eurotrains from Basel or Geneva to Milan (both directions)
-
8 trains from Brig (northern end of the tunnel) to Domodossola at the beginning of the grade to the Simplon tunnels
-
several locals which run only through the tunnel from Brig to Iselle
-
12 auto-trains which run only through the tunnel from Brig to Iselle. They haul autos and motocycles on flat cars (roll-on-roll-of) plus passengers.
I don’t know how many freight trains travel through the Simplon tunnel. Over the pentecost weekend, freight travel is certainly lower than during the week, while passenger travel would have been stro