Gotthard Damage Defense: Heroes of the Pitot Tube

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There are approximately 1,700 hours of traffic congestion every year in front of the entrance gates of the Gotthard road tunnel. Standing metal avalanches last especially long during the Easter holidays. It’s an event that frustrates drivers stuck in traffic. Discomfort and fatigue threaten, and the risk of accidents increases in the 16.9 kilometer long directionless road tunnel. If a collision actually occurs, the Gotthard Damage Protection Agency (SWG) takes action. So who is this group and what exactly do they do? We visited them at the Göschenen UR factory.

Used for over 15 years

SWG is considered a professional fire service and is affiliated with the logistics base of the Swiss Army. It has two locations: in the northern portal in Göschenen RI and in the southern portal in Airolo TI. “We are on duty 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. When we were founded, we had 36 employees; today we have almost twice as many employees,” says SWG deputy commander Beat Walther (59) at the workshop site in Göschenen.

Much information has been gained from the massive fire in the Gotthard road tunnel on October 24, 2001, in which eleven people died. “We learn from an incident,” Walther says. Following this serious accident, the Federal Highway Office (Astra) carried out technical, structural and organizational adjustments to the Gotthard Tunnel; one of these was the establishment of SWG in 2008.

Wide field of activity

Since then, the professional fire brigade has responded to a variety of situations: fires, accidents, as well as normal vehicle breakdowns. The emergency response team performs between 100 and 150 missions each year. Considering that more than 19,000 vehicles pass through the road tunnel every day and 6.8 million annually, it is actually not that many. Many drivers find the traffic lights in front of the almost 17 kilometer long tube boring, but this safety measure aims to prevent the so-called organ effect in the tunnel. “That’s why there were so many accidents,” Walther says.

SWG’s working area includes not only the tunnel but also the corresponding motorway feeder sections from Amsteg to Göschenen on the north side and from Airolo to Faido on the south side. In addition, the emergency response team is on duty on the south side of the Gotthard Pass road during the summer months. However, the north side is controlled by the Andermatt fire department. Additionally, a SWG department approves special and exceptional transport on Swiss roads. Any vehicle that exceeds normal and legal dimensions in length, width or height is subject to such a permit. “13 out of 69 SWG employees work in our department,” explains Pascal Tresch, head of special permits. His department issues between 25,000 and 30,000 national road permits each year.

Action in the tunnel

Beat Walther explains: “In the event of a tunnel fire, we need to be out within two minutes of the alarm and on the scene in the tunnel within a maximum of twelve minutes, so that the fire, and especially the smoke, does not spread too far.” Depending on the location of the event and traffic density, this can be congested because there is no hard shoulder for emergency vehicles to zip through stationary traffic, “so we always exit from the north and south at the same time.” However, there will be a difficult process when the second tube is completed in 2032 and the existing tube is renewed. Traffic must then continue to flow in a single lane, but in two different lanes. Walther said, “In the Gotthard Tunnel, where there is no direction separation at the moment, there are many accidents due to the collision of vehicles crossing the road.” This problem needs to be solved after the second tube is completed and the old one is renewed.

Other security measures include thermal portals approximately 800 meters in front of the tunnel entrances. These scan each vehicle and trigger an alarm if an overheating vehicle is detected. So how would you react if an electric car caught fire in a tunnel? Beat Walther: “We often have difficulty controlling fires in electric vehicles. “Fortunately no electric cars have caught fire in the Gotthard tunnel so far, just a faulty battery here and there.” However, if this were to happen, the fire would be kept as small as possible and the destroyed vehicle would then be towed away using a jump vehicle.

What can drivers do?

“Drivers should listen to the radio while passing through the tunnel. This way you are always informed in the event of an accident or fire,” advises Walther. The tunnel is monitored not only by cameras but also by various sensors. “When a vehicle enters the fault area, we see it on our monitoring screens.” The SWG deputy commander also advises drivers to always maintain sufficient distance from the vehicle in front “At least 100 meters,” says Beat Walther.

And important: “If a fire breaks out in the tunnel, the occupants must immediately park their vehicle, leave the vehicle, leave the keys in the vehicle and immediately go to one of the 64 shelters.” There is an SOS button that connects you to the emergency call centre, a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit. “The problem is that most people do not want to abandon their cars in such situations and put themselves in danger.”

Source: Blick