Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter Soller 17/11/2018 15:50

The Council of Majorca has been looking at creating an emergency tunnel for the Soller Tunnel. The most favoured option is a tunnel to run parallel. Its cost is put at anything between 20 and 30 million euros.

Consideration had been given to linking the train and road tunnels, but this has been discarded as the two tunnels are on different levels. As it is, an emergency tunnel alongside the road tunnel may not be at the same level.

In order to allow evacuation, the dimensions of this emergency tunnel will be greater than had initially been expected, meaning that the cost will go up. Because of this the Council has contacted the national ministry of development about possible funding. The councillor for infrastructure, Mercedes Garrido, has requested the minister, José Luis Ábalos, for a meeting.

The Soller Tunnel is reckoned to be one of the most dangerous in Europe because there is no means of evacuation. When the tunnel was built, there was no specification for there to be one.