Railway tunnel safety ex Ministerial Decree 2005 and Ministerial Decree 2025: acomparative analysis

Abstract

Safety in railway tunnels represents an area of particular relevance within safety engineering, due to the specific critical issues associated with the confined nature of these infrastructures, the difficulties related to evacuation, and the complexity of rescue operations in the event of an accident. Although the statistical incidence of railway accidents in tunnels is limited compared to the total number of events across the network, the potential consequences in terms of loss of human life, material damage, and service disruption make a rigorous and structured regulatory approach essential. The importance of this topic emerged during the internship I carried out at the Provincial Command of the National Fire and Rescue Service Department (Vigili del Fuoco) in Perugia, which motivated the development of this research work. This thesis aims to analyze the evolution of Italian regulations concerning railway tunnel safety through a comparison between the Ministerial Decree of 28 October 2005 and the Ministerial Decree of 04 March 2025, the latter having repealed the former. Particular attention is devoted to aspects related to fire prevention, emergency management, and risk analysis and management. After a general overview of the infrastructural and regulatory context, the study examines the contents of the two decrees, highlighting elements of continuity and discontinuity, as well as the main operational implications for Infrastructure and Railway Service Managers. The regulatory analysis is finally supported by a real case study, represented by the Balduini Tunnel, located along the Orte–Foligno railway line (Province of Perugia), with the aim of assessing the current state of the safety system and the coherence of the available documentation.