Alpine tunnel reopening delayed

The Mont Blanc Tunnel has been closed to traffic since the fire in 1999

PARIS, France -- Traffic disruption between France and Italy looks set to continue after the re-opening of the Mont Blanc tunnel -- closed in 1999 after a devastating fire -- was delayed for a second time.

The tunnel had been expected to reopen to traffic on December 22, but the company that runs it now says safety checks will not be complete by then.

"The necessary technical tests cannot be finished in time," a spokesman for ATMB told Reuters.

A company statement said final security checks would probably be put off until the New Year.

The reopening of the tunnel to cars has already been postponed once from an initial date of December 15.

Last week, France and Italy's transport ministers said that from December 22 non-commercial traffic would be allowed to use the tunnel, which has been shut since March 1999 when a truck caught fire inside, killing 39 people.

Italy's Transport Minister Pietro Lunardi said it was unthinkable that the opening of the tunnel, a vital trade link between Italy and western Europe, could be further delayed and said he had asked for an inquiry.

"I have asked that these technical problems be looked into," he told reporters.

"It is unheard of that there should still be technical problems after such a long time."

No date has yet been set for a resumption of freight traffic through the tunnel, which opened in 1965.

An official at the French Transport Ministry said no definitive timetable had been agreed but final dates would be made public soon.

The Mont Blanc tunnel company said in a statement it had originally planned to hand over the tunnel to government authorities on December 10, but it now expected that final security checks would be postponed until January.

Trans-Alpine traffic has been severely disrupted since the Mont Blanc tunnel disaster.

Travel was made worse by the closure of the Gotthard tunnel between France and Switzerland following a fatal fire there in October.