Legal Risk Criteria Versus Tunnel Safety Guidelines: Freight Railway Safety in the Netherlands

In 2006, in the Netherlands the Betuweline will be realized between the port of Rotterdam and the German Hinterland. The Betuweline is a dedicated high-speed freight railway for all kinds of freight transport, including hazardous materials. The Betuweline crosses multiple built environments and comprises 5 tunnels. As a result, safety is a main issue for various stakeholders such as railway engineers, spatial planners and emergency responders. For this railway, however, the juridical character of the safety topics differs widely from (hard) legal risk criteria such as individual risk to (soft) safety guidelines such as accessibility by emergency responders. In this article, safety topics of the Betuweline are described and analyzed with regard to the available laws and guidelines in order to search for opportunities to reduce societal risk and society’s vulnerability.Copyright © 2004 by ASME