Curbing railway traffic accidents: Timely and synchronous solutions needed

(Baonghean) - Nghe An has 107 km of railway, of which the North-South railway is 76.5 km long, running through the districts of Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Nghi Loc and Vinh City. In recent times, railway traffic accidents have increased sharply in the province, leaving extremely serious consequences. This reality requires timely and synchronous solutions to control railway traffic accidents.

Painful horizontal line

According to statistics from the Provincial Police Department of Road and Railway Traffic, in 2011, there were 14 railway accidents in the province, killing 14 people and injuring 1 person. In the first two months of 2012, the situation of railway traffic accidents increased sharply. In February 2012 alone, there were 5 serious railway traffic accidents in the province, killing 5 people and injuring 1 person.

Over 80% of railway traffic accidents involve level crossings.

Most recently, at 7:30 p.m. on February 28 at Km 314+350 in Nghi Lien commune, Vinh city, a serious railway accident occurred that killed a taxi driver, Tran Duc Tho (39 years old), residing in My Thanh block, Dong Vinh ward, Vinh city. When crossing the level crossing, he did not observe carefully and was hit by Thong Nhat train number TN2 running from Vinh to Hanoi and dragged for 350m. The accident crushed the front of the taxi, and the rescue team had to work very hard to pry open the car door to get the driver out.

Previously, at 10:50 a.m. on February 17, at Km305+900 of the North-South railway crossing with the local level crossing in Nghi Long commune, Nghi Loc district, an accident occurred, killing a newlywed couple, Mr. Nguyen Van Truong (29 years old, residing in Dong Van hamlet, Nghi Van commune, Nghi Loc) and his wife, Ms. Dau Thi Then (22 years old, residing in Dinh hamlet, Nghi Thiet commune, Nghi Loc) on the spot. According to witnesses, the couple was riding a motorbike, when crossing the local level crossing, because they did not observe carefully, they were hit head-on by the SE8 train traveling in the South-North direction. The collision caused the victim's motorbike to fly nearly 50m away, and Mr. Truong and Ms. Then were thrown into the drainage ditch next to it and died.

Mr. Tran Ba ​​Ha - Deputy Director of Nghe Tinh Railway Management One Member Co., Ltd. said: The increase in railway traffic accidents (mainly at railway-road intersections) in recent times is alarming. In fact, Nghe An is one of the "hot spots" in the country for spontaneous civil level crossings. Statistics also show that up to 80% of accidents are related to the level crossing system running through the districts of Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Nghi Loc and Vinh City. In addition, the awareness of obeying traffic safety laws of local people as well as traffic participants at intersections is not high, and they do not pay attention to observe trains when passing through level crossings and signs. There are cases where drivers participating in traffic on the railway see a train coming but still deliberately overtake, like the case on February 11, at Yen Ly Km270 + 575 crossing, the driver of a gasoline truck with license plate 37N 1869 brazenly drove in front of the train, broke the barrier when the train was coming and then ran away...

In addition, violations of railway traffic safety corridors by people are still common. Furthermore, the current state of railways and roads has revealed many limitations; although running parallel to each other, the distance between railways and roads is too narrow, in some places less than 2m, so the consequences will be very serious if a road vehicle overturns, falls, or crushes the railway, causing many trains to be blocked, as well as causing traffic jams.

Need a synchronized solution

Faced with the increasing trend of railway traffic accidents at civilian level crossings, the Railway sector needs to coordinate with localities where railways pass through to review the level crossings and resolutely prevent further occurrences. At the same time, develop a specific plan and roadmap to eliminate illegal level crossings. For cases of violations of railway safety corridors, after being handled and handed over to local authorities for management, if they still re-offend, it is necessary to assign specific responsibilities to the locality. At the same time, it is necessary to bring to trial cases of non-compliance with railway traffic safety laws causing serious accidents.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Ky - Director of Nghe An Department of Transport said: "The Department will continue to coordinate with the Railway sector to review black spots at intersections between roads and railways to promptly add signs, traffic lights, and handle level crossings... Speed ​​up the construction of hard guardrails between railways and roads, overpasses in Nghi Yen and Quan Banh areas, upgrade and expand National Highway 1A to 4 lanes, to contribute to reducing congestion, and at the same time eliminate many black spots of traffic accidents in Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, and Nghi Loc areas at present".

The above solutions are really necessary to minimize railway traffic accidents. However, in addition to the efforts of the authorities, the awareness of traffic participants is more important. Therefore, all levels, sectors and localities need to strengthen propaganda work to raise awareness and consciousness of the community towards compliance with traffic safety regulations as well as the protection of traffic works and railway traffic safety corridors.

Dang Cuong