Council to give tunnel date soon

Dublin City Council is to announce the long-awaited opening date for the Dublin Port Tunnel next week, councillors were told last night.

Between 700 and 800 firefighters and a similar number of gardaí are being trained to respond to any emergencies and incidents in the tunnel.

The first "smoke tests" began last Saturday and will take place twice weekly with a specialist team of 200 firefighters trained in tunnels in Switzerland.

The tunnel, which was first proposed in 1993 and approved by the Government in 1994, will be formally handed over to the operators by the council in early December with an opening date shortly after. The precise date for opening will be announced by the council next Wednesday.

Rigorous safety testing would occur throughout November, Tim Brick, senior engineer in charge of the project, told the council's traffic and transport committee last night, before the tunnel was finally passed for use by the council.

Several opening dates for the tunnel have been given since digging finished in August 2004.

In September a spokesman for Dublin Port Tunnel said a November opening date was likely. However, Mr Brick said the date to be announced next week will be the official one.

The safety system used in the tunnel was a "one-off", Mr Brick said, and considerable time had been required to ensure that it was operating properly.

"The mechanical electrical system is a one-off. It is bespoke in its hardware and software and was not an element that was amenable to throwing resources at it to speed up the process."

Engineers took time to run tests to ensure reliability, he said, adding that the tunnel was on course to come in within the budget of €751 million. Some contractual claims were outstanding, but these would be "vigorously rebutted" in the courts.