Skip to main content

Hindhead Tunnel safety demonstration

A full scale major incident emergency exercise has been carried out in the UK’s brand new Hindhead Tunnel on the A3 in Surrey. Located just to the south of London, the A3 route carries heavy traffic volumes and the existing road link has been a major bottleneck for capacity as well as proving a safety risk for the area. The new tunnel, due to open soon will relieve traffic jams in the area and boost capacity.
April 20, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSSA full scale major incident emergency exercise has been carried out in the UK’s brand new Hindhead Tunnel on the A3 in Surrey. Located just to the south of London, the A3 route carries heavy traffic volumes and the existing road link has been a major bottleneck for capacity as well as proving a safety risk for the area. The new tunnel, due to open soon will relieve traffic jams in the area and boost capacity. However the link has also been designed with the latest safety technology and to meet the tough new European regulations on tunnel safety, introduced in the wake of two disastrous tunnel fires that caused multiple fatalities in Switzerland and Austria. At the 1.9km Hindhead Tunnel emergency crews from ambulance, fire and police services tested response times for a major incident. The staged scenario involved 16 mock casualties from two separate vehicle crashes and a serious fire underground. The emergency exercise involved 280 people and following the staged incident, car drivers, played by actors, began to walk outside to safety. Statistics suggest that a major incident can be expected in the A3 tunnel on average once every seven years, and a minor incident will lead to a tunnel closure every three years. The tunnel is due to open to traffic shortly. The link will carry some 30,000 vehicles/day and keep traffic away from the Devil's Punchbowl, a heathland site which is a special protection area for wild birds conservation.

Related Content

  • Lowering the barriers to combined control rooms
    March 29, 2017
    Integrating control rooms can improve traffic management, security and emergency response without excessive cost or compromising privacy. In the wake of the recent terrorist events in France and Germany where the transport system was exploited with deadly consequences, many governments and agencies are reviewing the security arrangements – particularly around popular and high profile events.
  • Lowering the barriers to combined control rooms
    March 29, 2017
    Integrating control rooms can improve traffic management, security and emergency response without excessive cost or compromising privacy. In the wake of the recent terrorist events in France and Germany where the transport system was exploited with deadly consequences, many governments and agencies are reviewing the security arrangements – particularly around popular and high profile events.
  • Lowering the barriers to combined control rooms
    March 29, 2017
    Integrating control rooms can improve traffic management, security and emergency response without excessive cost or compromising privacy. In the wake of the recent terrorist events in France and Germany where the transport system was exploited with deadly consequences, many governments and agencies are reviewing the security arrangements – particularly around popular and high profile events. Increasing security in transport systems that must remain accessible to the general public will not be easy but in ma
  • Electrosonic installs Hindhead tunnel control room display
    December 3, 2012
    The twin-bore Hindhead tunnel in southern England has made the A3 London to Portsmouth route safer and more efficient, aided by the large overview video wall and operator consoles installed in the control room by Electrosonic, working with main contractor Balfour Beatty Engineering Services for the Highways Agency. To meet the Highways Agency’s requirement that the control room should operate in a similar way to other traffic control rooms on the major road network, Electrosonic devised a solution based on