Vietnam: Notification and handling notification of national/special-use railway traffic accidents

According to Circular No. 23/2018/TT-BGTVT of the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam, notification of railway accidents and further actions are specified as follows:

1. When an accident occurs, the train captain or train operator (in case of absence of train captain) must notify the train dispatcher or traffic controller of the nearest train station of such accident as soon as possible.

2. The recipient of notification shall forward it to the following entities as quickly as possible:

- The traffic controllers of stations located in two sides of the section;

- The station master;

- The rail transport control organization;

3. The station master shall forward it to the following entities immediately:

- The nearest police authority and People’s Committee for further actions against accident;

- The nearest regional railway inspection and safety group or office affiliated to Vietnam Railway Authority if the accident takes place on the national railway;

- The agency in charge of railway infrastructure in the place where the accident occurs;

- Relevant entities within the station area.

4. After receiving the notification, the railway operation unit shall:

- Forward it to the head of national railway infrastructure company if the accident occurs on the national railway, to the head of dedicated railway company if the accident occurs on the dedicated railway for further actions;

- Forward it to the head of Vietnam Railway Authority for cooperation in further actions if the accident occurs on the national railway, to the owner of dedicated railway if the accident occurs on the dedicated railway for cooperation in further actions;

- Forward it to the Department of Traffic Safety (affiliated to the Ministry of Transport) if the accident occurs on the national railway.

5. If the accident is likely to cause traffic jams on the main route for many hours, the head of the national railway infrastructure company shall notify the People’s Committees at all levels of such accident and keep them informed of the process and results for timely reports to Vietnam Railway Authority and the Ministry of Transport.

6. If it is behind the train running schedule in the section but the train involved in the accident remains unknown, the traffic controller of the arrival station must notify the traffic controller of the departure station of the location of the train in the section. The traffic controller must also notify the train dispatcher to take appropriate actions.

7. Methods of notification:

- The train captain or train operator (in case of absence of train captain) must find any available measures, via means of communications or in person, to notify the accident to relevant entities as prescribed in Clause 1 hereof.

- If an individual prescribed in Clause 1 hereof cannot contact any of relevant entities, he/she may request any person whom he/she contacts successfully to cooperate in notifying them.

8. Contents of notification:

- Initial information about accident must be accurate and provided in a timely manner;

- The initial information about accident must at least contain: 

+ location (km, section, route, commune, ward, urban district, suburban district, province, or city); accident time;

+ number of fatalities, number of injuries at the accident time;

+ preliminary scene, vehicles involved in the accident;

+ infrastructure damage caused by the accident;

- Apart from initial notification prescribed in Point a, Point b Clause 9 Article 11 of this Circular, the train captain or train operator (in case of absence of train captain) (if the accident happens within the section); the station master or traffic controller (if the accident happens within the station) must make a report (using form in Appendix thereto).

9. Further actions against the notification:

- Any entity taking responsibility in the scope under which the accident falls shall, on receiving such an accident notification or a request for cooperation or support in notification, seek every available measure to follow the request and respond to the request sender (if possible), and perform tasks and practices as;

- Any entity not taking responsibility in the scope under which the accident falls shall forward the notification to entities in charge and cooperate closely upon request of those entities.

Circular No. 23/2018/TT-BGTVT of the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam takes effect from July 01, 2018.

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