A new risk assessment tool for multimodal transport of Dangerous Goods
At present time, future alpine railway crossings are under construction that will go through long tunnels, namely between France and Italy, the Modane base tunnel, and, in Switzerland, the Gotthard and Lôtschberg base tunnels. Crossing large mountainous areas such as the Alps and the Pyrenees means a lot of difficulties to solve. Security issues in those long tunnels have to be dealt with. Other security issues are to be addressed when Dangerous Goods go through densely populated areas, others where different means of transport (route, rail, ...) are interfaced. These evolutions will generate modifications in the means of transporting goods and also in the routes pattern. It is thus important to be able to evaluate the risks due to some goods, some means of transport on the routes. The present paper shows the INERIS ongoing research project relative to the assessment of the risk induced by the transport of Dangerous Goods by road, by rail, and by their combined means of transport. In this paper, the main features and models involved in the future multimodal QRA tool are presented.