Nghe An determined to eliminate self-opened paths on railway lines

Many self-opening paths were removed.

On the morning of October 3, the Traffic Safety Committee of Nghe An province coordinated with Road Management Area II, Vinh Railway Signal Information Joint Stock Company, Nghe Tinh Railway Joint Stock Company, Nghe Tinh Railway Exploitation Branch and Trung Loc Commune People's Committee to organize barricades and completely remove two self-opened paths at Km304+575 and Km305+315 on the Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City railway line.

These are two railway intersections that have been the site of many serious accidents and are considered black spots for traffic safety. In particular, the self-opening crossing at Km304+575 recorded a particularly serious accident on March 11, 2024, when passenger train SE8 collided with tractor-trailer BKS 37H-056.76 pulling a sand trailer BKS 37R-047.39, causing severe damage to the vehicle and disrupting railway operations for many hours.

Immediately after the incident, the railway management unit took emergency measures such as placing concrete blocks and narrowing the road surface to limit the movement of heavy trucks. However, after only a few days, some subjects used mechanical vehicles to move the concrete blocks, widening the road surface to more than 3 meters. Every day, cars pulling trailers still brazenly pass by, posing a risk of serious accidents.

Although the railway industry, local authorities and police have coordinated many times to handle and propagate, violations still recur. People still freely travel across the railway by motorbike, car, or even on foot without paying attention when the train is approaching.

At the meeting to remove the barrier of the self-opened path on the morning of October 3, many people expressed their feelings about losing the road that used to serve daily travel and production. However, most of them understood and supported the removal of the illegal path to ensure railway traffic safety. Mr. Nguyen Van Binh, a resident of Trung Loc commune, shared: "We know this is a self-opened path, illegal and has many potential risks of accidents, so closing it is completely correct. Although it is more inconvenient to travel, for the sake of common safety, we agree."

Also in Trung Loc commune, at Km304+820, the authorities have narrowed the road, allowing only pedestrians and motorbikes to pass temporarily. After the residential access road is completed, this path will also be completely closed, in accordance with planning and safety standards.

Along with the barricades, the traffic police and Trung Loc Commune Police organized traffic flow and guided people to move through the automatic barrier crossing at Km305+888 (QL1A route Km447+570), ensuring convenient and safe traffic. The Provincial Traffic Safety Committee also recommended that the Road Management Area II consider adjusting the connection of the median strip and reorganizing traffic at Km447+750 on National Highway 1A to support people after the illegal passages were removed.

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This October, we will continue to fence off and remove the self-opened paths at Km260+380 in Quynh Son commune and the self-opened paths at Km265+470 in Quynh Luu commune. Fencing and permanently closing the self-opened paths across the railway is an urgent solution to protect people's lives. This activity is included in Plan No. 235/KH-UBND dated April 27, 2021 of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee, implemented according to Decision No. 358/QD-TTg dated March 10, 2020 of the Prime Minister on the Project to ensure order in traffic safety corridors and completely handle self-opened paths in the area.
In the coming time, the Board will request relevant units to review, classify and block the list of self-opened paths, resolutely not allowing any more to arise. At the same time, it will issue a "three-party coordination regulation" between local authorities - infrastructure units - police, assigning specific responsibilities to each commune/ward in the management and handling of violations.
According to the principle of “if qualified, close immediately”, high-risk self-opened passages will be permanently barricaded, urgently narrowed or temporarily guarded before being permanently fenced. Acts of self-opening or reopening passages will be severely punished, even transferred to criminal proceedings if there is sufficient basis.

Mr. Phan Huy Chuong - Deputy Head of the Traffic Safety Committee of Nghe An province

Speeding up the implementation roadmap of Decision 358/QD-TTg

This reality is making many people worried, because the risk of accidents at intersections, especially self-opened crossings, is always latent and can happen at any time. Recently, early in the morning of October 5, a railway accident occurred at a residential level crossing without barriers, in Vinh My block, Truong Vinh ward (formerly Vinh Tan ward), Nghe An province.

According to initial information, a car with license plate 37K-540.xx was hit by a train while crossing the railway. The strong collision caused the car to flip over and be severely damaged. Fortunately, there were no casualties. Local residents said that many similar accidents had occurred in this area due to the lack of barriers. The lack of safety measures has made this crossing a potential black spot for accidents.

Previously, another tragic accident occurred at 5:38 a.m. on August 15, 2025. At that time, a woman was riding a motorbike with license plate 37 K5-060.xx from Trung Loc commune, Nghe An (old Nghi Long) to National Highway 1A. While crossing the intersection at the intersection with N5 road in Nam Cam industrial park, the woman was hit by passenger train number NA1, running from Hanoi to Vinh. The strong impact caused severe damage to the motorbike, and the woman died on the spot. The victim was later identified as Ms. TTQ (born in 1969, residing in Cua Lo ward, Nghe An).

In fact, it is not easy to remove residential roads that intersect with railways because it is related to people's travel and living needs. However, to ensure traffic safety at road-railway intersections, especially at self-opened paths and to comply with the schedule set out in Decision 358/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister (2025 is the last year of implementing Decision 358/QD-TTg), Nghe An province is speeding up the review, classification and final handling of the remaining self-opened paths. Time is running out, so speeding up the process of removing illegal paths is extremely urgent, to ensure absolute safety for people and smooth operation of the railway.

Authorities and local governments need to be more decisive in clearing and handling violations of corridors, and at the same time complete the planning of the service road system before closing illegal self-opened paths...

Regarding this issue, in Official Dispatch No. 7392/UBND-NC dated July 25, 2025, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Hoang Phu Hien assigned the Department of Construction to preside over and coordinate with relevant Departments, branches, localities and units to implement the contents proposed by Vietnam Railways Corporation in Official Dispatch No. 2549/DS-ANAT dated July 22, 2025.

Specifically, continue to maintain and deploy a number of solutions to ensure traffic safety; organize vigilance, provide professional training for local people assigned to perform vigilance duties and provide tools for vigilance work; install "attention to trains" signs; fence off self-opened walkways, install signs to restrict road motor vehicles; build speed bumps; smooth the surface of self-opened walkways...

Localities and authorities coordinate with Nghe Tinh Railway Joint Stock Company to step up propaganda and mobilize people to eliminate self-opened paths without waiting for the construction of service roads; at the same time, coordinate with Vinh Railway Signal Information Joint Stock Company to review and connect signals to ensure safety and prevent congestion at necessary intersections.

Commune authorities and police forces also need to increase patrols, inspections, and strictly handle violations of railway infrastructure corridors. At the same time, organize propaganda on railway traffic safety laws on mass media so that people are aware and strictly comply.

Thus, eliminating self-opened paths is not only a technical solution, but also a necessary and urgent step in ensuring railway traffic safety. However, for this solution to be truly effective, close coordination between functional sectors, local authorities and consensus from the people is needed. Only when safety is put first can railway accidents be effectively prevented.