Statistics from Vietnam Railways Corporation show that rock throwing on railways is increasing. In the first 6 months of 2024 alone, there were 75 incidents of rocks and soil being thrown onto trains, breaking 79 locomotive and carriage windows.
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| Vietnam Railways Corporation has regularly disseminated information about the harmful effects of throwing stones at trains. (Source: VNA) |
Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR) said that at 11:55 p.m. on July 10, 2024, train H2705 traveling on the Hanoi - Lao Cai route when passing through Mau Dong commune, Van Yen district, Yen Bai province, suddenly the co-driver Nguyen Van Quan (53 years old) was hit in the head by a stone thrown by a local resident, causing him to bleed profusely.
The main driver tried to bring the train back to Maodong station at 10:04 a.m. on July 11 to take the victim to Maoa Hospital for emergency treatment. The train stopped at Maodong station for nearly 2 hours waiting for another assistant driver to replace him. The suspect was later arrested by the police.
The public still cannot forget the sacrifice of Mr. Le Minh Phu, train driver of Team 1 (Operation Workshop, Da Nang Locomotive Enterprise). He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Bravery by the President for performing his duty, saving people and property of the state and the people.
According to co-pilot Ho Ngoc Hai, on the evening of March 10, 2015, the train was running at a speed of about 75 km/h in the Quang Tri – Dien Sanh section. When approaching the level crossing at km 639 + 750 (with automatic warning), a large dump truck traveling in the same direction suddenly turned on its turn signal. The train driver continuously sounded the warning horn but the truck did not stop and suddenly crossed.
At this time, train driver Le Minh Phu called the co-driver to find shelter, while he pulled the engine handle and applied the emergency brake, but could not avoid a head-on collision with the dump truck. After the collision, 3 cars next to the locomotive were thrown off the railway, fortunately all 583 passengers and 29 staff on the train were safe. Train driver Phu was trapped in the locomotive cabin and died. The railway industry suffered a loss of about 23 billion VND for repairing locomotives, cars, infrastructure and transporting passengers.
VNR statistics show that rock throwing on railways is increasing, in the first 6 months of 2024 alone, there were 75 cases of throwing soil and rocks onto trains, breaking 79 locomotive and carriage windows. Localities where this situation often occurs include Khanh Hoa (18 cases); Dong Nai (15 cases); Binh Dinh (8 cases); Quang Nam (8 cases); Binh Thuan and Thua Thien Hue each with 5 cases; Quang Tri, Quang Ngai and Ninh Thuan each with 4 cases.
Even, worrying about traffic safety and the lives of passengers and employees, the railway industry recently had to "call for help" from Quang Ngai province to help prevent the situation of stone throwing that breaks the windows of train cars. Because if there are no timely measures to prevent it, the stone throwing incidents mostly occur at night, in deserted locations and will occur more frequently.
In 1881, the first railway line in Vietnam and Indochina began construction, 71 km long, connecting Saigon with My Tho, then expanded to a total length of 2,600 km across the three regions of the country. Currently, the national railway network has a total length of 3,143 km and 277 stations, of which 2,703 km are main lines, 612 km are stations and branch lines, including 7 main lines.
According to Article 35, Chapter IV of the Railway Law (Law No. 06/2017/QH14 dated June 16, 2017), train drivers and assistant train drivers are railway staff positions directly serving train operations, aged from 23 to 55 years old for men, from 23 to 50 years old for women; with a certificate of qualified health.
With complicated traffic and outdated infrastructure, train driving is considered a dangerous profession because accidents are always lurking. More worryingly, in recent years, the Railway College has had difficulty recruiting students. For the past 3 years, the college system has not been able to open a class because there were only less than 10 applications. That is because unlike car drivers, train drivers can only drive trains, but after graduating, they have to pass many exams and spend many years to become a main driver. Meanwhile, the current income is low, but the pressure and risk are high.
Students admitted to the school must meet two conditions: be in good health according to the regulations for railway drivers in terms of height, weight, eyesight, hearing, etc. as prescribed by the Ministry of Health; graduate from high school and be considered for admission by the school's admissions board.
After completing the course, students must also pass tests and assessments to become assistant driver 1. If successful, they must meet the conditions of at least 24 consecutive months of safe train driving with 30,000 safe kilometers, ensuring the average fuel level according to the company's regulations, not being disciplined, not violating regulations to the extent of being reprimanded in writing or higher, before being eligible to take the exam for the position of assistant driver 2.
From co-pilot 2, to be promoted to the title of main train driver (driver), one must achieve at least 36 consecutive months of safe train driving and other similar conditions. If all goes well, to be able to officially be as majestic as the knights "holding the reins" to conquer a steel block weighing over 100 tons requires another 5-6 years.
No matter how brave, courageous and passionate about their job, for any railway employee, every time a collision, accident or railway incident occurs (another vehicle collides with a train, natural disasters such as storms and floods endanger the railway infrastructure system, foreign objects directly threaten the safety of the machinery, etc.), it takes a long time for them to return to normal. At best, it takes time to recover, at worst, they pay the price with their own lives, all for the purpose of bringing trains to their destinations.
Throwing rocks, dirt, etc. is an illegal act that can be subject to administrative or criminal penalties, depending on the nature of the act and the extent of damage. Specifically, according to Decree 144/2021/ND-CP on violations of public order regulations, the act of throwing rocks at a moving train is subject to an administrative fine of 3,000,000 - 5,000,000 VND. If another person is injured, the offender will be required to pay all medical examination and treatment costs.
Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 134 of the 2015 Penal Code, as amended by Clause 22, Article 1 of the Law amending the 2017 Penal Code, anyone who intentionally causes injury or harm to the health of another person with a bodily injury rate of 11% to 30% or less than 11% but in certain specific cases shall be subject to non-custodial reform for up to 03 years or imprisonment from 06 months to 03 years.
Based on the practical situation, in the future, in addition to urging units to synchronously implement solutions to prevent throwing rocks and soil onto trains, VNR needs to continue to coordinate with local authorities and police to reach out to each household living along both sides of the railway to propagate and mobilize them to sign a commitment not to throw rocks and soil onto trains.
Local police along the route must monitor, verify, investigate, handle, and deter people who throw rocks at trains, while the railway industry must announce rock-throwing incidents so that students understand that this action is extremely dangerous.
Besides the problem of balancing ensuring conditions for labor regeneration as well as improving income to retain human resources, the most important thing is still people's awareness because the railway is the only and priority route.
We need to work together to make every moment on board a fun, comfortable and safe time for the train driver.
Source: https://baoquocte.vn/bao-dong-do-an-toan-chay-tau-chuyen-chua-hoi-ket-278649.html
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