Ministry plans to boost rail safety by building bridges

Railway authorities are planning to replace old, unsafe rail crossings with concrete structures to reduce the increasing number of accidents, the Ministry of Transport has announced.

The ministry has called on localities to help finance the costs of building warning posts that would force train operators to reduce their speed at crossings.

The ministry plans to eliminate 4,000 illegal crossings, of the total 6,000 crossings, by 2012 to reduce the number of railway accidents.

Over the past year, more than 20 railway accidents have occurred as a result of buses hitting the crossings, killing dozens of people, including four railway traffic policemen.

In recent months, buses have struck railway crossings in Ninh Thuan and Dong Nai provinces and Ha Noi, killing 22 people and injuring more than 70 others.

The ministry said that violators of railway regulations, including signals at crossings, would be penalised.

To maintain traffic safety, underground tunnels, flyovers and elevated railways have been proposed.

Up to 90 per cent of railway accidents are caused by illegal crossings, according to railway authorities.

Nguyen Xuan Hoa, director of Sai Gon Railway Management Company, said the 180 km-long rail route managed by the company had at least 320 crossings.

The absence of barriers on roads running along the railroads and substandard crossings illegally built by residents near the railways had both contributed to accidents.

Railway inspection authorities said the illegally built crossings without signboards hindered the vision of drivers and pedestrians.

Only 531 legal crossings have barriers and traffic guards, while 260 others have lamps and audible signals that warn about oncoming trains.

Every year, more than 100 new illegal crossings are built due to the growing demand for transport and urbanisation. (VNS)