An accident in Quang Nam Province
"70% of the railway accidents are at illegal level crossings. This is a tough problem to solve," said Vu Anh Minh, chairman of Vietnam Railways.
Only nine people died in railway accidents in last July but the number increased to 20 this July. In the first six months of 2019, there were a total of 75 accidents that killed 53 people. One of the most serious accident occurred on July 31 when the train hit a 16-seat bus and killed four people in Binh Thuan Province. 19 cases were in Hanoi, followed by Khanh Hoa Province with 16 cases and Hai Duong Province with 10 cases.
Vietnam Railways set the goal to close all illegal level crossings by 2025 and started the project in 2012. However, due to a lack of funding, the project was halted. In 2018, it submitted the project report about shutting down illegal level crossing and safe railway traffic corridor to the Ministry of Transport and prime minister.
In the report, Vietnam Railways listed all on-going and future constructions to ask for funding. It suggested building 673km of frontage road and install barriers to close 2,983 illegal level crossings. The fund for the 2020-2025 period is estimated at VND2.5trn.
Pham Nguyen Chien from Vietnam Railways' Department of Security and Railway Safety said according to the law, the railway sector was responsible for the safety at the legal level crossings and the local authorities must take responsibility for illegal level crossings.
"The hardest part is the funding and then strong co-operation from local authorities. If the local authorities are not strict then it will be really hard to realise the project," he said.
