Organisation of operations

Although the organisation of tunnel operations varies from one country to another, generally  it involves the following groups:

• Operating staff in charge of operation management and traffic assistance
• Technical staff in charge of the maintenance and management of the civil engineering works and equipment;
• Administrative personnel.

In a few cases, emergency rescue services are considered as part of the operating staff.

In some cases, a single organisation can be responsible for all the personnel required for tunnel operations. In other cases, operations may be shared by several public and private organisations. For example, the tunnel owner or the road administration may entrust a public or private organization with operation as a whole and then contract out specific operational tasks (e.g. maintenance tasks).

Incident management measures depend on national regulations and local requirements specific to each tunnel. Consequently, the organization of the operator and the traffic police depends on the local context.

Technical Report 2007R04 defines the organisation of operation in greater detail in chapter 4 "Operating staff: tasks and facilities".