Circular No. 29/2013/TT-BGTVT amending and supplementing certain articles of Circular No. 15/2009/TT-BGTVT dated August 4, 2009, issued by the Minister of Transport on handling railway traffic accidents.

CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 15/2009/TT-BGTVT dated August 4, 2009, issued by the Minister of Transport on handling railway traffic accidents and incidents.

Pursuant to Decree No. 109/2006/NĐ-CP dated September 22, 2006, promulgated by the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Railway Law; Decree No. 03/2012/NĐ-CP dated January 19, 2012, promulgated by the Government amending and supplementing certain articles of Decree No. 109/2006/NĐ-CP;

The Minister of Transport hereby issues this Circular amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 15/2009/TT-BGTVT dated August 4, 2009, issued by the Minister of Transport on handling railway traffic accidents and incidents.

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Pursuant to the Railway Law dated June 14, 2005;

Amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 15/2009/TT-BGTVT dated August 4, 2009, issued by the Minister of Transport on handling railway traffic accidents and incidents.

Pursuant to Decree No. 107/2012/NĐ-CP dated December 20, 2012 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Transport.

At the proposal of the Director of the Department of Traffic Safety and the Director of the Vietnam Railway Administration,

Article 3 shall be supplemented with Clause 6 as follows:

Article 1. "6. The Vietnam Railway Natural Disaster Response and Rescue Center, regional railway natural disaster response and rescue centers are units under the Vietnam Railway Corporation responsible for implementing flood prevention and mitigation work; responding to natural disasters and rescuing railway traffic."

2. Clause 4 of Article 4 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"4. Railway traffic accidents must be promptly reported to relevant organizations and individuals."

3. Article 5 shall be supplemented with Clause 4 as follows:

"4. Railway traffic incidents must be promptly reported to relevant organizations and individuals."

4. Clause 2 of Article 7 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"2. Other accidents refer to those involving people when railway transportation vehicles collide with or run over people; when people jump onto or fall from railway transportation vehicles; when objects such as soil, rocks, or other items are thrown at or fall from railway transportation vehicles causing property damage, loss of life, and injury."

5. Article 8 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 8. Classification based on the level of damage caused by railway traffic accidents

1. Minor railway traffic accident refers to an accident resulting in one to five injured persons or causing property damage valued between five million dong and less than fifty million dong.

2. Serious railway traffic accident refers to an accident resulting in one death or six to eight injured persons or causing property damage valued between fifty million dong and less than five hundred million dong.

3. Very serious railway traffic accident refers to an accident resulting in two deaths or nine to ten injured persons or causing property damage valued between five hundred million dong and less than one billion five hundred million dong.

4. Particularly serious railway traffic accident refers to an accident resulting in three or more deaths or eleven or more injured persons or causing property damage valued at one billion five hundred million dong or more."

6. Article 12 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

a) The name of Article 12 shall be amended as follows:

"Article 12. Responsibilities of the Chairman of the Council or the person in charge and members of the Council for handling accidents"

b) Clause 1 shall be supplemented with Point g as follows: "g) To compile all losses from the accident to provide to competent authorities for investigation and compensation according to the law (if applicable) for affected organizations and individuals."

7. Article 14 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 14. Responsibilities of the department advising on specialized railway inspection work

1. Upon receiving information about a railway traffic accident, the regional railway inspection team must promptly send personnel to the scene:

a) To participate in handling the accident; supervise and collect materials to serve the analysis, determination of causes, and handling of violations;

b) To cooperate in investigating and resolving the accident upon request of the competent police authority.

2. The regional railway inspection team must promptly report the contents stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article to the Vietnam Railway Administration."

8. Article 18 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Point c Clause 3 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"c) The regional railway inspection team for train operation accidents."

b) Point d Clause 3 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"d) Relevant units within the station area and the regional railway natural disaster response and rescue center (in case of a railway traffic accident on national railways)."

c) Point a Clause 4 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"a) Leaders of the Railway Transport Operations Control Center, leaders of the Vietnam Railway Natural Disaster Response and Rescue Center under the Vietnam Railway Corporation."

d) Clause 5 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"5. Leaders of the Railway Transport Operations Control Center must immediately inform the leaders of the Vietnam Railway Corporation to direct and organize the resolution of the accident and rescue operations according to regulations, while simultaneously informing the leaders of the Vietnam Railway Administration to coordinate."

"6. In the case of very serious or particularly serious train operation accidents, the leaders of the Vietnam Railway Corporation and the Vietnam Railway Administration must immediately report to the leaders of the Ministry of Transport for direction."

e) Clause 7 shall be supplemented as follows:

“1. Telecommunication enterprises providing services on the TSLCD Level II network must meet the following conditions:

"7. In cases where rescue operations may cause significant blockages on main lines for several hours, the leaders of the Vietnam Railway Administration and the Vietnam Railway Corporation must update the progress of the resolution, measures taken, and immediately report to the leaders of the Ministry of Transport."

9. Article 20 shall be supplemented with Clause 3 as follows:

"3. The Vietnam Railway Administration and the Vietnam Railway Corporation shall establish a permanent department, set up a 24-hour hotline to promptly receive and report information on railway traffic accidents and incidents, and publicly disclose the phone number, fax number, and email address on mass media."

10. Article 22 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Clause 1 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"1. When an accident occurs along with emergency medical care for victims, the Train Conductor or Driver (if the accident occurs in the middle of the train), the Station Master or Train Operation Duty Officer (if the accident occurs at the station) must carry out the initial record.

The initial record, prepared by the Train Conductor or Driver (if there is no Train Conductor on board), shall be handed over to the nearest Station Master or Train Operation Duty Officer."

b) Clause 2 shall be supplemented with Point e as follows:

The initial file, established by the Train Captain or the Pilot (if the train does not have a Train Captain), shall be handed over to the Station Master or the Train Dispatch Office at the nearest station where the train stops.

Clause 2 supplements Point e as follows:

"e) A diagram of the accident scene as prescribed in Model No. 3 of Appendix No. 2 of this Circular."

c) Clause 3 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"3. The Station Master or the Train Control Officer at the station, within 48 hours after establishing or receiving the initial accident file, must send it to the competent authorities as follows:"

a) One copy sent to the public security agency of the district or county where the railway traffic accident occurred;

b) One copy sent to the Railway Inspection Team in the area;

c) One copy sent to the Railway Emergency Response, Disaster Management, and Rescue Center in the area under the Vietnam Railway Corporation."

d) Clause 4 shall be added as follows:

"4. In the case of an accident occurring on dedicated railway lines, the Station Master or the Train Control Officer at the station, after establishing or receiving the initial accident file, must follow the provisions set out in point a and point b of Clause 3 of this Article and send it to the enterprise managing and operating the dedicated railway lines."

11. Point b of Clause 5 of Article 23 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"b) An autopsy report (if applicable)."

12. Article 27 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

The initial record, prepared by the Train Conductor or Driver (if there is no Train Conductor on board), shall be handed over to the nearest Station Master or Train Operation Duty Officer."

"1. Rail traffic accidents must be analyzed for causes, measures to rectify and prevent them must be proposed. The analysis of rail traffic accidents must be based on current regulations."

b) Clause 2 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"2. The General Director of the Vietnam Railway Corporation shall be responsible for organizing the analysis of rail traffic accidents occurring on national railways, and the General Director or the Director of the enterprise managing and operating dedicated railway lines shall be responsible for organizing the analysis of rail traffic accidents within their management scope. For very serious and particularly serious traffic accidents, a review board must be established no later than three days from the date of the accident, with participation of representatives from the Vietnam Railway Administration during the analysis process."

13. Article 29 shall be supplemented with Clause 4 as follows:

"4. Immediately upon receiving the results of the analysis of very serious and particularly serious accidents, the Vietnam Railway Corporation and the enterprise managing and operating dedicated railway lines must report to the Vietnam Railway Administration for consolidation and reporting to the Ministry of Transport."

Article 2.

1. Add Model No. 3 of Appendix 2.

2. Add Appendix 3 issued together with this Circular, replacing Appendix 3 issued together with Circular No. 15/2009/TT-BGTVT.

Article 3. Effectiveness

This Circular takes effect from January 1, 2014.

Article 4. Implementation

1. Enterprises participating in railway operations shall be responsible for urging and directing subordinate units, organizations, and individuals involved in railway transportation activities to implement this Circular.

2. The Vietnam Railway Administration shall take the lead and coordinate with relevant agencies to organize inspections of the implementation of this Circular.

3. During the implementation process, if there are difficulties or obstacles, agencies and units shall report to the Vietnam Railway Administration for consolidation and reporting to the Ministry of Transport for consideration and resolution.

4. The Head of the Ministry's Office, the Head of the Ministry's Inspectorate, Heads of Departments, the Director of the Vietnam Railway Administration, the General Director of the Vietnam Railway Corporation, Heads of agencies and units, and individuals responsible for enforcing this Circular./.