Circular No. 16/2018/TT-BGTVT on the management and maintenance of national railway infrastructure

CIRCULAR

Provisions on management and maintenance of national railway infrastructure

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Pursuant to the Railway Law No. 06/2017/QH14 dated June 14, 2017;

Pursuant to the Construction Law No. 50/2014/QH13 dated June 18, 2014;

Pursuant to Decree No. 12/2017/NĐ-CP dated February 10, 2017, issued by the Government on the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Transport;

WHEREAS, Decree No. 46/2015/NĐ-CP dated May 12, 2015 of the Government on quality management and maintenance of construction works;

WHEREAS, Decree No. 59/2015/NĐ-CP dated June 18, 2015 of the Government on project management for investment in construction;

Pursuant to Decree No. 42/2017/NĐ-CP dated April 5, 2017 of the Government amending and supplementing certain articles of Decree No. 59/2015/NĐ-CP dated June 18, 2015 of the Government on project management for construction investment;

pursuant to the proposal of the Director of the Department of Transport Infrastructure and the Director of the Vietnam Railway Administration,

The Minister of Transport issues this Circular providing for the management and maintenance of national railway infrastructure funded by the State.

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

1. This Circular prescribes regulations on management and maintenance of national railway infrastructure.

2. In case of rescue and repair work during typhoons and floods, the provisions of the Ministry of Transport on flood prevention, typhoon prevention, disaster response, and rescue operations in railway activities shall be followed.

Article 2. Applicability

This Circular applies to organizations and individuals involved in the management of railway infrastructure and the maintenance of national railway infrastructure funded by the State.

Article 3. Explanation of Terms

1. Railway work maintenance procedures are documents specifying the sequence, contents, and guidance for implementing maintenance tasks of railway works.

2. Maintenance of railway works involves a set of tasks aimed at ensuring and maintaining normal and safe operation of the works according to design specifications during their exploitation and use.

3. Inspection of railway infrastructure refers to the examination through visual inspection or specialized equipment to assess the current condition of the infrastructure in order to promptly identify signs of deterioration and damage to the infrastructure and installed equipment, thereby enabling timely remedial measures. Railway infrastructure inspection includes regular inspection, periodic inspection, and spot inspection.

4. Monitoring of railway infrastructure involves observing, measuring, and recording changes in geometry, deformation, displacement, and other technical parameters of the infrastructure and its surrounding environment over time.

5. Quality inspection of railway infrastructure involves checking and evaluating the quality or determining the cause of damage, value, service life, and other technical parameters of parts of the infrastructure, installed equipment, or the entire railway infrastructure through monitoring, testing, and calculation analysis.

6. Maintenance of railway infrastructure refers to the continuous observation, care, and minor repairs of damaged parts of the infrastructure and installed equipment, carried out regularly and periodically to maintain the infrastructure in a normal operating state and minimize further damage.

7. Repair of railway infrastructure involves restoring, improving, or replacing damaged parts of the infrastructure, equipment, or components, or the entire infrastructure discovered during operation and use to ensure normal and safe operation of the infrastructure and railway transportation safety. Railway infrastructure repair includes scheduled repair and emergency repair:

a) Scheduled repair of railway infrastructure involves repairing damage or improving and replacing damaged parts of the infrastructure or installed equipment according to the maintenance procedures and approved maintenance plans.

b) Emergency repair of railway infrastructure is carried out when parts of the infrastructure suffer sudden impacts such as wind, typhoons, floods, earthquakes, collisions, fires, or other sudden impacts, or when parts of the infrastructure show signs of deterioration affecting their safe use and operation.

8. Maintenance units of railway infrastructure are organizations and individuals assigned tasks or contracted to perform one or more maintenance works on railway infrastructure.

Chapter II

MANAGEMENT OF RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE STRUCTURE,

MAINTENANCE OF RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE

Article 4. Requirements for railway infrastructure management work

1. Railway infrastructure management shall be carried out uniformly, with clear hierarchical authority and responsibilities assigned to each agency and unit, and coordination among agencies and units.

2. Distinction shall be made between state management by state agencies and business operations by enterprises.

3. All railway infrastructure shall be assigned to management and usage entities in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Article 5. Content of railway infrastructure management work

1. Management of railway infrastructure assets in accordance with the law.

2. Management of financial resources for railway infrastructure management and maintenance of railway works.

3. Management of the establishment, issuance, publication, and implementation of technical standards and regulations; quotas, unit prices, product prices, and quality of public service railway services.

4. Management of the establishment, review, approval, assignment of plans, determination of implementation methods, and organization of management of railway infrastructure structure and maintenance of railway infrastructure.

5. Management of planning, reviewing, approving plans, funding, and organizing implementation of flood, storm, disaster prevention, mitigation, and accident response activities.

6. Management and protection of railway infrastructure.

7. Establishment of records tracking locations prone to railway accidents, locations reducing train passage capacity; records tracking the number of railway accidents and initial causes of each accident.

8. Updating railway infrastructure management records into a database system for monitoring and management; record components and contents as stipulated in Article 6 of this Circular.

9. Updating railway infrastructure data into the management, monitoring, and supervisory system for national railway works maintenance according to the Ministry of Transport's regulations.

10. Inspection, supervision, handling complaints, accusations, and law violations related to railway infrastructure management and railway works maintenance as prescribed.

11. Regular and ad hoc reporting as prescribed.

Article 6. Railway Infrastructure Management Records

1. Each railway infrastructure must establish management records for railway infrastructure structure, including technical management records and traffic safety zone management records, to serve management, operation, and maintenance of the infrastructure in accordance with construction laws.

2. Technical management records are established for each infrastructure project and sub-project along each railway line and within each management scope (section, segment). Railway infrastructure technical management records include: records serving management, operation, and maintenance of the infrastructure in compliance with Clause 3, Article 12 of Circular No. 26/2016/TT-BXD dated October 26, 2016 issued by the Ministry of Construction; completion records of infrastructure maintenance and other documents as prescribed in the infrastructure maintenance procedures and in the annexes. Main record components are as follows:

a) Railway project management, operation, and maintenance records:

Decision approving the investment project and feasibility study report or economic-technical report for construction investment;

Survey tasks and construction survey result reports;

As-built drawings confirmed by the project owner (with attached drawing list) and design changes made during construction;

As-built drawings (with attached drawing list);

Results of monitoring, measurement, quality inspection of the infrastructure, structural load testing (if applicable) during construction, lists of spare parts, accessories, materials, and other related documents;

Equipment installation history in the project;

Operation and exploitation procedures; maintenance procedures;

Project incident resolution records (if applicable);

Completion acceptance certificates for sub-projects and completed construction projects put into use by the project owner;

Acceptance approval notices for project section and construction project completion acceptance by specialized construction agencies.

b) Railway project maintenance completion records include:

Maintenance completion records: contents and record components as stipulated in Article 53 of the Infrastructure Maintenance Procedures approved by Decision No. 2320/QĐ-BGTVT dated June 30, 2015 of the Ministry of Transport;

Scheduled repair completion records: contents and record components as stipulated in Article 54 of the Infrastructure Maintenance Procedures approved by Decision No. 2320/QĐ-BGTVT dated June 30, 2015 of the Ministry of Transport;

Emergency repair completion records: contents and record components as stipulated in Article 55 of the Infrastructure Maintenance Procedures approved by Decision No. 2320/QĐ-BGTVT dated June 30, 2015 of the Ministry of Transport;

Technical history and inspection logbook of the project: each project must have a technical history of the project and an inspection logbook for the project (The technical history record clearly the main technical characteristics and status of the project, recording the situation of changes, repairs, reinforcement, accidents occurred during operation, regular inspection results, periodic inspection results, quality inspection results of the project; the inspection logbook records the results of regular inspections of damage of each project; The logbook is bound into volumes with stamps of the management unit; the logbook can record for one or multiple projects depending on the actual conditions of project management; at the end of the year, the recording unit must send the logbook to the management unit for storage, inspection, and comparison).

General management file: the general management file includes the straightened plan of the railway line; the overall layout plan of the railway station and the shortened longitudinal profile of the railway (Straightened plan of the railway line: the straightened plan has a scale of 1/500. The scope of the straightened plan: length along the line range; width minimum to the extent of land reserved for the railway and the range of railway works. The plan must fully display all elements such as plane, terrain, objects, railway works, protected area, safety zone, railway boundary markers. The straightened plan must be updated regularly whenever there are changes or movements related to relevant factors. The detailed format of the straightened plan can be seen in the attached drawing; the overall layout plan of the railway station: the overall layout plan (scale 1/500) fully displays the terrain, objects, related auxiliary works; the protected area, safety zone, boundary markers; it fully displays all statistical tables, architectural features, curves, length of the track; the overall layout plan must be updated regularly whenever there are changes or movements related to relevant factors; the detailed format of the overall layout plan can be seen in the attached drawing).

Shortened longitudinal profile of the railway: the shortened longitudinal profile of the railway line (high ratio; length: 1/200 and 1/1000) fully displays all elements regarding plane, gradient, architectural features, and related auxiliary works; the shortened longitudinal profile of the railway line must be updated regularly whenever there are changes or movements related to relevant factors. The detailed format of the shortened longitudinal profile of the railway line can be seen in the attached drawing.

3. Management files for the safe traffic corridor of the railway must be established for each railway line and according to administrative boundaries at the commune, district, and provincial levels, and confirmed by the People's Committee of the district to serve management purposes; the management files for the safe traffic corridor of the railway include:

a) Straightened plan of the works and the safe traffic corridor, showing all major elements, especially the location and scale of encroaching works, works violating the safe traffic corridor.

b) Files related to pedestrian paths must be established separately to serve management and monitoring activities to ensure railway and road traffic safety.

c) Management files for the access roads within the safe traffic corridor of the railway including completion files, design files, construction permits, and other related documents.

d) Management files for the fence separating the railway from the road including completion files, design files, and other related documents.

đ) Boundary marker files, fence files, land boundary files allocated for the railway in accordance with current regulations; handover records of boundary markers, land boundaries, road boundary markers for the safe traffic corridor of the railway (if applicable);

e) Commitment records confirmed by local authorities regarding non-encroachment and re-encroachment of the protection area of railway works by households located along the safe traffic corridor of the railway (if applicable);

Article 7. Requirements for railway structure maintenance work

1. Maintenance of railway works must be carried out according to the annual maintenance plan and the maintenance procedure of railway works approved by the competent authority; implementation of maintenance shall comply with the provisions of this Circular.

2. Railway structure maintenance must ensure safety for people, property, and structures; ensure safe and smooth traffic; prevent fires and explosions and protect the environment.

3. Railway structure maintenance must be conducted in accordance with technical standards and maintenance procedures corresponding to the type of structure, as approved by the competent authority.

4. For construction works not included in the published construction norms and estimates or already included in the published construction norms and estimates but not suitable for the technical requirements, construction conditions, and specific construction methods of the project, they shall be implemented in accordance with the laws on investment and construction management.

Article 8. Contents of railway infrastructure maintenance work

The content of railway works maintenance includes one, several, or all of the following tasks: inspection, monitoring, quality testing, maintenance, and repair, renovation of railway works, but does not include activities that change the function or scale of the works as required by the railway works maintenance procedures approved by the Ministry of Transport and the laws on construction quality and maintenance management.

Article 9. Maintenance files for railway infrastructure

The maintenance files for railway infrastructure include:

1. Documents serving railway works maintenance: railway works maintenance procedures; completion drawings of the works (if available); equipment installation history in railway works; investigation files on the basic condition of railway works; maintenance files of railway works; repair files of railway works.

2. The national annual railway infrastructure maintenance plan approved by the Ministry of Transport;

3. Results of regular, periodic, and emergency inspections of railway infrastructure (if applicable);

4. Annual results of railway infrastructure maintenance and repairs;

5. Monitoring results and quality testing results of railway infrastructure (if applicable);

7. Results of force safety and operational evaluation of railway works during operation and use (if available);

8. Other related files and documents for railway works maintenance.

Article 10. Assessment of load-bearing safety and operational safety of railway infrastructure during operation and use

1. Railway works with large scale and complex technology affecting community safety as stipulated by laws on construction quality and maintenance management must be organized to evaluate the force safety and operational safety of railway works during operation and use periodically or urgently upon request by railway infrastructure business enterprises to the Vietnam Railways Administration.

2. The content of assessment and implementation procedures follow the provisions of laws on quality management and maintenance of construction projects.

3. Railway infrastructure business enterprises organize the implementation of force safety and operational safety evaluations of railway works during operation and use, submit evaluation results and proposed handling measures to the Vietnam Railways Administration for monitoring and inspection.

4. The Vietnam Railway Administration shall inspect and propose the Ministry of Transport to decide on measures for handling.

Article 11. Handling of railway infrastructure showing dangerous signs and not ensuring safety for operation and use

1. Railway infrastructure business enterprises, when assigned, leased, or transferred by the State, have the responsibility to:

a) Regularly monitor, patrol, guard, inspect, and observe to promptly detect construction works, parts of construction works, and equipment installed in construction works that are damaged, deteriorated in quality, and not safe for operation and use.

b) When discovering signs indicating danger or lack of safety for operation and use in railway construction works, there must be responsibility to immediately report to the Vietnam Railway Administration; at the same time, implement the provisions stipulated in Clause 1 of Article 44 of Decree No. 46/2015/NĐ-CP of the Government.

2. Upon discovery or receipt of reports about railway construction works showing signs of danger or lack of safety for operation and use, the Vietnam Railway Administration shall inspect and propose measures for handling to be decided by the Ministry of Transport.

3. In cases where railway construction works experience incidents during operation and use, the resolution of such incidents shall be carried out according to the provisions set forth in Chapter VI of Decree No. 46/2015/NĐ-CP of the Government.

Article 12. Handling of railway works that have exceeded their service life but require continued use

1. Based on the management files of railway infrastructure, the enterprise operating railway infrastructure shall report to the Vietnam Railway Administration about the time of operation and use of the works under its management and exploitation.

2. A railway construction work that has exceeded its service life is a work that has been operated and used for a period longer than its designed service life as stated in the project design documents. In cases where the project design documents are lost or do not specify the service life, the service life of the work shall be determined based on relevant technical standards and regulations or the results of quality inspections.

3. At least one year before the railway construction work exceeds its service life, if there is a need to continue using it, the business entity operating railway infrastructure, organizations, or individuals who have received limited-term transfers or leases of rights to operate and manage state-invested national railway infrastructure must carry out the following tasks:

a) Organize inspections, tests, and evaluations of the current quality of the work.

b) Repair any damage to the work (if any) to ensure functionality and safety for use; consider and decide on the continued use of the work except for those specified in Appendix II of Decree No. 46/2015/NĐ-CP of the Government regarding management of construction work quality and maintenance.

c) Report to the Vietnam Railway Administration the results of inspections, tests, and evaluations of the quality of the work, and the results of repairs (if any). The Vietnam Railway Administration shall inspect and propose the Ministry of Transport to decide.

Article 13. Monitoring of railway works and parts during operation and use

1. Mandatory monitoring of railway works and parts during operation and use must be carried out for:

a) Railway works as prescribed by laws on the management of construction project quality and maintenance;

b) Works required by the railway maintenance procedures;

c) Railway works showing signs of settlement, tilting, cracking, and other abnormal signs that may cause collapse;

d) Other railway works when accidents occur that could lead to disasters, at the request of enterprises operating railway infrastructure.

2. Parts of railway works that need to be monitored are the main load-bearing structures of the works, which, if damaged, could lead to collapse.

3. The monitoring content of railway construction works includes: monitoring location, monitoring parameters, and limit values of these parameters (deformation, displacement, tilt, settlement, crack, sag), monitoring time, number of measurement cycles, and other necessary contents. The monitoring plan must specify the measurement methods, measuring devices, layout diagrams, and structure of markers; organization of monitoring implementation; data processing methods, and other necessary contents.

4. Business entities operating railway infrastructure are responsible for:

a) Inspecting and requiring monitoring of railway construction works and their components during operation and use to include them in the annual maintenance plan for railway construction works.

b) Based on the approved maintenance plan, organize the preparation of a monitoring outline and budget for approval by the Vietnam Railway Administration.

c) Organizing the implementation of monitoring of railway construction works and their components, and preparing a report on the monitoring results, wherein the monitoring data must be compared with the permissible limit values specified in relevant technical standards and regulations; evaluate the safety of the work according to current regulations.

d) Reporting the monitoring results, proposing recommendations to the Vietnam Railway Administration for inspection and reporting to the Ministry of Transport to take timely measures in cases where monitoring data exceed permissible limit values or show abnormal signs.

5. Organizations or individuals who have received limited-term transfers or leases of rights to operate and manage state-invested national railway infrastructure must prepare an outline, submit it for review and approval by the Vietnam Railway Administration; self-approve the budget, organize implementation, and prepare reports according to the provisions of Point c of Clause 4 of this Article.

6. The implementation of monitoring of railway construction works and their components during operation and use shall be carried out in accordance with the legal provisions on the management of construction work quality and maintenance.

Article 14. Application of technical standards, regulations, and economic-technical norms in railway infrastructure maintenance work

1. For railway infrastructure maintenance work:

a) Apply according to the standards; comply with technical regulations and economic-technical norms issued by competent authorities;

b) For construction items without economic-technical norms, apply corresponding norms of industries or localities issued by competent authorities after obtaining the approval of the Ministry of Transport.

2. For periodic and emergency repair work on railway infrastructure: apply in accordance with laws on investment in construction projects and relevant laws.

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTATION OF MAINTENANCE WORKS TRANSPORT

Article 15. Establishment, Approval, and Adjustment of Railway Infrastructure Maintenance Plans

a) Based on the technical condition of railway infrastructure, transportation needs on each operational railway line, maintenance procedures, economic-technical norms, current state regulations, railway infrastructure business enterprises shall review and compile the volume of work and establish annual maintenance plans for railway infrastructure or plans within the assigned period based on economic-technical norms and minimum safety requirements during operation, including maintenance tasks, periodic repairs, inspections, monitoring, emergency repairs, and other works (if applicable) in accordance with the form specified in Appendix 1 of this Circular. The consolidated volume table shall be sent to the Vietnam Railway Administration before May 15th each year for inspection and review of the maintenance plan;

a) Based on the technical condition of railway infrastructure, transportation demand on each operational railway line, maintenance procedures, economic and technical norms, current state regulations, railway infrastructure business enterprises shall review, compile the volume and establish annual railway infrastructure maintenance plans or according to the planning period within the scope assigned based on economic and technical norms and minimum safety assurance measures during operation, including regular maintenance tasks, periodic repairs, inspections, monitoring, emergency repairs, and other works (if any) as prescribed in Appendix 1 of this Circular. The summary table of volumes shall be sent to the Vietnam Railway Administration before May 15th each year for the purpose of reviewing the maintenance plan.

b) The railway infrastructure maintenance plan shall be established in two copies, accompanied by a summary table of the technical status of railway infrastructure (as prescribed in Appendix 2 of this Circular), one copy to be sent to the Ministry of Transport, one copy to the Vietnam Railway Administration before June 15th each year; simultaneously, railway infrastructure business enterprises shall prepare budget estimates for revenue and expenditure from public funds for economic activities, to be submitted to the Ministry of Transport.

c) The annual railway infrastructure maintenance plan includes: regular maintenance plan, periodic repair plan for each line (section) and other works (if any). The railway infrastructure maintenance plan must include all the following information: name of the project, item of work; unit, quantity, estimated implementation cost; time of implementation; method of implementation and priority level.

a) Within ten working days from the date of receiving complete files, the Vietnam Railway Administration is responsible for reviewing and submitting the railway infrastructure maintenance plan to the Ministry of Transport;

a) Within ten working days from the date of receiving complete files, the Vietnam Railway Administration shall be responsible for reviewing and preparing a report to submit to the Ministry of Transport.

b) Based on the railway infrastructure maintenance plan presented by railway infrastructure business enterprises and the review report of the Vietnam Railway Administration, the Ministry of Transport shall review, compile the maintenance plan and maintenance cost budget into the annual revenue and expenditure budget of the Ministry of Transport, to be submitted to the Ministry of Finance before July 20th each year;

c) After receiving the notification from the Ministry of Finance regarding the annual revenue and expenditure budget, the Ministry of Transport will allocate it to railway infrastructure business enterprises. Railway infrastructure business enterprises shall review and adjust the maintenance plan and maintenance cost budget in accordance with the allocated funds; prepare the file and send it to relevant units for review and assessment as stipulated in point b, Clause 1 of this Article. For periodic repairs of railway infrastructure and equipment, they can only be included in the construction implementation plan after obtaining the investment approval decision from the competent authority as prescribed, except in cases where permission is granted by the Minister of Transport.

d) The Ministry of Transport shall assess and approve the maintenance plan and maintenance cost budget after receiving complete maintenance plan files, review reports, and comments from related agencies and units (if any).

a) National railway infrastructure maintenance plans funded by the state shall be adjusted and supplemented during implementation to align with the actual technical conditions of the railway infrastructure;

b) Railway infrastructure business enterprises shall prepare adjustment files for the maintenance plan and send them to the Vietnam Railway Administration before October 1st each year. The Vietnam Railway Administration shall inspect, review, and submit to the Ministry of Transport before October 15th each year for consideration and decision;

b) Railway infrastructure business enterprises shall prepare one set of files for adjusting the railway infrastructure maintenance plan and submit it to the Ministry of Transport before November 1st each year for consideration and decision.

c) The Ministry of Transport shall decide on the adjustment of the maintenance plan before November 10th each year.

4. Organizations and individuals who have acquired the right to operate and manage national railway infrastructure through lease or transfer shall independently establish, approve, and adjust the maintenance plan for the transferred railway infrastructure.

Article 16Implementation of Railway Infrastructure Maintenance Plan

1. For national railways invested by the State, based on the approved annual railway infrastructure maintenance plan, railway infrastructure business enterprises shall organize its implementation in accordance with the regulations.

2. For maintenance work on railway infrastructure and equipment funded by the State budget, it shall be carried out as follows:

a) For regular maintenance work, based on the approved maintenance plan, railway infrastructure business enterprises shall prepare product pricing schemes and public service fees, to be submitted to the Ministry of Transport for approval as the basis for implementation.

b) For repairs of infrastructure and equipment costing less than 500 million VND, railway infrastructure business enterprises shall organize the preparation and approval of periodic repair project files before implementation in accordance with laws on construction quality management and maintenance. The periodic repair project file includes technical solutions and periodic repair cost estimates. The approval decision for the periodic repair project file must be sent to the Ministry of Transport and the Vietnam Railway Administration for monitoring and supervision.

c) For repairs of infrastructure and equipment costing 500 million VND or more, railway infrastructure management and business enterprises shall organize the preparation of economic and technical reports or construction investment projects, to be submitted to the Vietnam Railway Administration for examination and approval in accordance with laws on construction investment.

d) Regarding emergency repairs not included in the approved maintenance plan, it shall be carried out as follows:

For emergency repairs of infrastructure damaged by typhoons, floods, earthquakes, natural disasters, it shall be carried out in accordance with the Ministry of Transport's regulations on flood prevention, disaster response, and rescue operations in railway activities.

For emergency repairs of infrastructure damaged by other causes, the Ministry of Transport shall authorize the Vietnam Railway Administration to approve; report the results of implementation to the Ministry of Transport.

3. Based on the approval decisions for infrastructure items as stipulated in Clause 2 of this Article, railway infrastructure business enterprises shall organize the implementation of maintenance in accordance with the law.

4. The Ministry of Transport and the Vietnam Railway Administration shall organize inspections and supervision of the implementation of national railway infrastructure maintenance plans funded by the State in accordance with the regulations.

5. Organizations and individuals that have acquired the right to operate and exploit national railway infrastructure on a lease basis or through transfer shall independently implement the maintenance plans for the railway works they have acquired.

Article 17. Inspection, Maintenance, Repair, and Safety Assessment of Railway Infrastructure

1. Railway maintenance units shall carry out inspection, maintenance, and repair of railway works in accordance with the maintenance contracts and approved maintenance procedures.

2. Inspection, maintenance, and repair of railway works; evaluation of railway work safety during operation and use, including load-bearing safety and operational safety, shall be carried out in accordance with the laws on quality management and maintenance of construction works and the provisions of this Circular.

3. Quality inspection of railway works shall be conducted in accordance with the laws on quality management and maintenance of construction works. The establishment and approval of the outline and budget for quality inspection of railway works shall be carried out in accordance with the following provisions:

a) For national railways, based on the approved maintenance plan, railway infrastructure business enterprises shall prepare the outline and budget, submit them to the Vietnam Railway Administration for review and approval;

b) Organizations and individuals that have acquired the right to operate and exploit national railway infrastructure on a lease basis or through transfer shall prepare the outline, submit it to the Vietnam Railway Administration for review and approval; they shall approve the budget themselves and organize its implementation.

Article 18. Management of Quality in Railway Works Maintenance

1. Railway infrastructure business enterprises, organizations and individuals that have acquired the right to operate and exploit national railway infrastructure on a lease basis or through transfer, railway works maintenance units, and other organizations and individuals related to railway works maintenance shall be responsible for managing the quality of railway works in accordance with the laws on quality management and maintenance of construction works and the provisions of this Circular.

2. Units participating in railway works maintenance activities must establish a quality management system for railway works maintenance to meet the goals and requirements of national railway works maintenance activities. The quality management system for railway works maintenance must have a clear, detailed organizational chart, specifying the responsibilities of each individual, agency, and department in railway works maintenance activities.

3. Conduct testing and inspection or require suppliers to provide complete test and inspection certificates for materials, components, supplies, equipment, accessories, and connecting parts used in railway works maintenance.

4. Maintain comprehensive maintenance records in accordance with regulations. Internal acceptance must be organized before issuing an acceptance request form to confirm that the quality of the railway works maintenance performed meets the goals and requirements of the maintenance activity. Internal acceptance activities must be documented and form part of the railway works maintenance file.

5. Warranty period for railway project repair work according to the regulations on quality management and construction project maintenance.

Article 19. Reporting System for Railway Infrastructure Maintenance Work

1. Reporting System: Enterprises operating railway infrastructure, organizations, and individuals receiving limited-term transfers, leasing rights to operate and manage national railway infrastructure invested by the State shall implement regular and extraordinary reporting systems on the results of implementing the maintenance plan for national railway infrastructure invested by the State to the Ministry of Transport and the Vietnam Railway Administration, with regular reports submitted six months before July 15th each year and before January 15th of the following year.

2. The report must include all the following information: name of the project, project components implemented; volume and cost of implementation; completion time; adjustments and occurrences compared to the approved plan; assessment of implementation results (according to the approved plan); proposals and recommendations during the implementation of railway infrastructure maintenance work (as stipulated in Appendix 3 of this Circular).

Article 20. Responsibilities for Managing Railway Infrastructure and Maintaining Railway Projects

1. State Management Agencies:

a) Organize management of railway infrastructure and maintenance of national railway projects as prescribed;

b) Manages and uses financial resources allocated for the management of railway infrastructure and the maintenance of national railway works;

c) Inspects, audits, supervises; resolves complaints and reports, handles violations of the law in the implementation of railway infrastructure management and railway work maintenance tasks;

d) Implement other contents within the responsibilities of state management agencies related to managing and maintaining railway projects as prescribed by law;

2. Railway Infrastructure Business Enterprises:

a) Carries out the maintenance of railway works according to the provisions of the law when assigned, leased, or transferred;

b) Uses and operates railway infrastructure according to regulations;

c) Protects railway infrastructure to ensure uninterrupted and safe railway transportation;

d) Bears legal responsibility for incidents or deterioration of works due to non-compliance with the maintenance regulations;

đ) Implement other contents within the responsibilities of enterprises related to managing railway infrastructure and maintaining railway projects as prescribed by law;

3. Organizations and individuals receiving limited-term transfers, leasing rights to operate and manage national railway infrastructure invested by the State shall be responsible for managing railway infrastructure and maintaining railway projects according to contracts with competent state management agencies; they shall bear legal responsibility for accidents or deterioration of projects due to non-compliance with maintenance regulations.

PART IV

COSTS FOR MAINTAINING RAILWAY WORKS

Article 21: Sources of funds for maintaining railway works

1. Funds for maintaining railway works invested by the state are formed from the following sources:

a) State budget;

b) Other lawful revenues as prescribed by law.

2. Organizations and individuals receiving limited-term transfers, leasing rights to operate and manage national railway infrastructure invested by the State shall be responsible for allocating funds for the maintenance of transferred railway projects according to contracts with competent state management agencies.

3. Management and use of maintenance funds for railway works shall be carried out in accordance with current laws.

Article 22: Costs for maintaining railway works

1. Contents of cost items related to the implementation of railway work maintenance include:

a) Costs for preparing and reviewing maintenance procedures and economic-technical norms serving railway work maintenance tasks;

b) Costs for implementing annual periodic maintenance tasks, including: costs for planning maintenance works (including planning, budgeting for railway maintenance works, reviewing, auditing, and other related costs);

c) Costs for regular inspections, periodic inspections, and sudden inspections of railway works;

d) Costs for regular maintenance of railway projects;

đ) Costs for regular repairs and emergency repairs of railway works;

e) Costs for inspecting and evaluating the quality of railway works;

f) Costs for establishing and managing maintenance project files; costs for building and updating infrastructure databases serving maintenance work;

g) Costs for monitoring railway works; costs for assessing load safety and operational safety of works during exploitation and use;

h) Other necessary costs related to the above.

2. Determination of costs for managing and maintaining railway works shall be carried out in accordance with relevant legal guidance.

Chapter V

IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

Article 23. Effectiveness of Implementation

This Circular takes effect from July 1, 2018, and replaces Circular No. 81/2015/TT-BGTVT dated December 25, 2015, issued by the Minister of Transport regarding the management and maintenance of railway projects.

Article 24. Transitional Provisions

For the establishment, approval, and implementation of national railway maintenance plans, the following procedures apply:

1. Tasks that have been initiated before July 1, 2018, shall continue to be implemented according to Circular No. 81/2015/TT-BGTVT dated December 25, 2015, issued by the Minister of Transport.

2. Tasks initiated after July 1, 2018, shall be implemented according to the provisions of this Circular.

Article 25. Implementation organization

1. The Director of the Ministry's Office, the Inspector General of the Ministry, the Heads of Departments, the Director of the Vietnam Railway Administration, the Heads of agencies, units, organizations, and individuals concerned are responsible for implementing this Circular.

2. During implementation, if issues arise, organizations and individuals should promptly report them to the Ministry of Transport for review and resolution./.