Circular No. 74/2015/TT-BGTVT on handling accidents and incidents in urban rail transport

CIRCULAR

Regulations on handling incidents and traffic accidents on urban rail transit

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Pursuant to the Railway Law dated June 14, 2005;

Pursuant to Decree No. 14/2015/NĐ-CP dated February 13, 2015 of the Government detailing the implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Railways;

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,

The Minister of Transport shall issue a Circular to regulate the handling of incidents and traffic accidents on urban rail transit.

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

This Circular stipulates principles, responsibilities of organizations and individuals, procedures, contents, measures for handling, analysis work, statistical systems, and reporting on incidents and traffic accidents occurring on urban rail transit.

Article 2. Applicability

This Circular applies to organizations and individuals related to urban rail transit transportation activities.

Article 3. Explanation of Terms

In this Circular, the following terms shall be understood as follows:

1. Urban rail transit traffic accident is an event where urban rail transit vehicles collide with each other, derail, overturn, catch fire, hit people or other vehicles, or obstacles, causing damage to human life and health or property.

2. Urban rail transit traffic incident is an event occurring during urban rail transit transportation activities that impedes train operation but does not result in a traffic accident.

3. Person injured in an urban rail transit traffic accident is a person who suffers physical injury or whose normal life is affected due to the direct impact of an urban rail transit traffic accident.

4. Person killed in an urban rail transit traffic accident is a person who dies at the accident scene; a person injured in the accident who is taken to a hospital but dies there, at home, or en route to the hospital; or a person who dies within 24 hours after the accident occurs.

5. Urban rail transit traffic control center is the unit responsible for commanding and managing all train operations on the urban rail transit line under its management.

Article 4. Principles for Handling Urban Rail Transit Traffic Accidents

1. Handling urban rail transit traffic accidents must ensure absolute safety, speed, and promptness.

2. When an urban rail transit traffic accident occurs, organizations and individuals involved in urban rail transit activities must cooperate in handling it.

3. Immediate medical assistance must be provided to victims, securing the accident scene, and protecting state, enterprise, and victim's property.

4. Urban rail transit traffic accidents must be promptly reported to relevant organizations and individuals.

5. Any organization or individual receiving information about an urban rail transit traffic accident must immediately go to the scene to handle it; they must not obstruct the restoration and operation of urban rail transit transportation.

6. The Chairman of the Traffic Accident Resolution Council (hereinafter referred to as the Chairman of the Council) or the person in charge of resolving the accident, designated by the enterprise managing, operating, and running the urban rail transit, has the authority to mobilize all available resources at the site to serve the rescue efforts for urban rail transit traffic accidents. In cases of particularly serious urban rail transit traffic accidents exceeding the capacity of the enterprise to resolve, the Chairman of the Council will be designated by the People's Committee of the province managing the urban rail transit line.

7. Organizing the resumption of urban rail transit transportation as quickly as possible without hindering the investigation and handling work of competent authorities.

8. Enterprises managing, operating, and running urban rail transit must develop and promulgate emergency response and accident handling procedures; allocate equipment, means of transport, materials, and personnel to be ready to respond to, handle, and mitigate incidents and accidents on urban rail transit within their scope.

Article 5. Principles for Handling Urban Rail Traffic Incidents

1. Urban rail traffic incidents must be documented in a report.

2. When urban rail traffic incidents occur, the documentation shall be carried out by the Urban Rail Transport Operations Center.

3. Urban rail traffic accident incidents must be promptly reported to relevant organizations and individuals.

4. Efforts to restore urban rail transport operations should be conducted swiftly and safely.

5. Enterprises managing, operating, and running urban rail transport shall establish and issue plans for handling and resolving urban rail traffic incidents based on this Circular and related legal documents.

Chapter II

CLASSIFICATION AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR HANDLING URBAN RAIL TRANSPORT TRAFFIC ACCIDENTSRAILWAY TRAFFIC

Article 6. Classification Based on Causes of Urban Rail Transport Traffic Accidents

Urban rail transport traffic accidents include those caused by subjective reasons and those caused by objective reasons:

1. Subjective cause accidents are those that occur due to violations of laws and regulations on urban rail transport traffic by organizations and individuals under enterprises managing, operating, and running urban rail transport.

2. Objective cause accidents are those caused by force majeure (natural disasters, enemy attacks) or other reasons outside the subjective responsibility of enterprises managing, operating, and running urban rail transport.

Article 7. Classification Based on Nature of Urban Rail Transport Traffic Accidents

Urban rail transport traffic accidents include train collision accidents and other accidents:

1. Train collision accidents are those occurring when urban rail transport vehicles collide with each other, derail, overturn; hit obstacles and vice versa, causing damage to human life, health, or property of organizations and individuals.

2. Other accidents are those involving people when urban rail transport vehicles hit or run over people; cause train fires; people jump onto or fall from urban rail transport vehicles; throw soil, rocks, or other objects onto urban rail transport vehicles, causing property damage, loss of life, and injury.

Article 8. Classification Based on Severity of Damage Caused by Urban Rail Transport Traffic Accidents

1. Minor urban rail transport traffic accidents are those causing property damage valued between 20 million VND and less than 100 million VND.

2. Serious urban rail transport traffic accidents are those causing injuries to 1 to 2 people or property damage valued between 100 million VND and less than 1 billion VND.

3. Very serious urban rail transport traffic accidents are those causing death to 1 person or injuries to 3 people or property damage valued between 1 billion VND and less than 5 billion VND.

4. Extremely serious urban rail transport traffic accidents are those causing deaths to 2 or more people or injuries to 4 or more people or property damage valued at 5 billion VND or more.

Article 9. Responsibilities of Train Drivers, Safety Support Staff, and Station Service Staff When Urban Rail Transport Traffic Accidents Occur

1. Immediately provide first aid and emergency care to victims, protect state and enterprise property, and the property of victims according to Article 16 of this Circular.

2. Secure the accident site according to Article 17 of this Circular.

3. Report the accident immediately to relevant organizations and individuals according to Section 2 Chapter III of this Circular.

4. Participate in handling traffic accidents on the urban rail line. Take charge of initial accident aftermath resolution when requested by authorized personnel.

Article 10. Responsibilities of Railway Traffic Controllers when a rail transit accident occurs

1. Prepare records, report on the accident according to the forms prescribed in Appendix No. 1 and Appendix No. 2 issued together with this Circular (if the accident occurs within the scope under their responsibility), transfer them to competent state agencies, and assign personnel to work with such agencies in accordance with Section 3 of Chapter III of this Circular.

2. The railway traffic controller shall be responsible for initially addressing the consequences of the rail transit accident if the Chairman of the Board or the person responsible for handling the accident has not yet arrived at the scene and there is no person designated to handle the initial consequences of the rail transit accident as stipulated in Clause 4, Article 9 of this Circular.

Article 11. Responsibilities of enterprises managing, operating, and running urban rail transit

1. Enterprises managing, operating, and running urban rail transit shall be responsible for leading and coordinating with relevant units in the locality to organize the resolution of urban rail transit accidents, and organizing rescue operations on urban rail transit.

2. When an urban rail transit accident occurs, the Director of the enterprise managing, operating, and running urban rail transit shall decide based on the cause, nature, and extent of damage to establish an Accident Resolution Board or delegate tasks to individuals with authority to lead the resolution of the accident.

The Director of the enterprise managing, operating, and running urban rail transit shall specify the establishment of the Accident Resolution Board or delegate to individuals to lead the resolution of the accident; specify specific tasks for members of the Board and related units under management; specify detailed procedures for rescue operations on urban rail transit lines under the enterprise's jurisdiction to ensure that the aftermath of the accident is resolved quickly and safely.

Article 12. Responsibilities of Board Members or Individuals Leading the Resolution of Accidents

1. The Chairman of the Board or the individual leading the resolution of the accident is the highest authority and responsibility holder for resolving the accident at the scene, having the right to mobilize manpower and resources on-site to treat the injured; make necessary decisions, coordinate with relevant agencies and local authorities to resolve the accident in accordance with the law, and must direct the completion of the following tasks:

a) Organize medical treatment for victims, protect the scene and property;

b) Participate in investigations and prepare inspection records at the scene upon request of the police agency;

c) Coordinate with relevant agencies and local authorities to complete legal procedures for burial of victims (in cases where fatalities occur);

d) Develop rescue plans and allocate manpower to implement passenger evacuation; rescue locomotive cars and carriages; repair bridges, roads, and other damaged equipment to quickly restore train operation through the accident site and reopen the line; ensure safety during rescue operations;

e) Compile accident records and determine the workload and manpower of participating rescue and relief units;

e) Compile comprehensive reports; propose commendations and disciplinary actions for organizations and individuals involved in resolving the accident; propose measures to competent authorities to restore normal urban rail transit operations and address related issues;

g) Organize responses to news media regarding the extent of damage, handling methods, resolution, and expected time for normal operation based on the severity of the urban rail transit accident;

2. Members participating in the Board must thoroughly perform assigned tasks and properly carry out assigned work; all other organizations and individuals involved in resolving the accident must follow the directives and comply with all decisions made by the Chairman of the Board or the individual leading the resolution of the accident.

3. In cases where accidents have particularly serious characteristics exceeding the capacity of the Chairman of the Board, they must immediately report to the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee for instructions on handling.

Article 13. Responsibilities of entities participating in urban rail traffic operations

When an accident occurs causing urban rail traffic to be interrupted, the enterprise managing, operating, and running the urban rail must immediately dispatch authorized personnel to quickly arrive at the scene to grasp the situation and participate in resolving the accident and restoring traffic.

Article 14. Responsibilities of the Transport Department Inspectorate

Upon receiving information about an urban rail traffic accident, the Transport Department Inspectorate at the local level must promptly dispatch personnel to participate in coordinating and handling the accident as requested by the competent authority.

Article 15. Responsibilities of People's Committees at all levels where urban rail lines operate

When an urban rail traffic accident occurs, the People's Committees at all levels where the accident occurs have the responsibility to coordinate with public security agencies, enterprises managing, operating, and running urban rail to rescue victims, protect state assets, and the assets of the enterprise and the victims. In cases where there are deceased persons whose whereabouts are unknown, without relatives, or whose relatives are unable to bury them, the People's Committee where the accident occurred has the responsibility to assist in organizing the burial.

Chapter III

PROCEDURE FOR HANDLING URBAN RAIL TRAFFIC ACCIDENTSIN URBAN RAILWAYS

Section 1

EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE FOR VICTIMS AND SECURING THE ACCIDENT SITE

Article 16. Organization of emergency assistance for victims

1. The train driver or safety support staff must:

a) Immediately organize first aid for the victim. Based on the actual situation, transport the victim to the nearest medical facility for emergency care or urgently mobilize people and means to take the victim to the nearest medical facility for emergency care;

b) While organizing emergency assistance for the injured, assign someone to watch over the victim and protect property.

2. When there are injured persons in the station or on the train handed over to the station, the train service staff at the station must organize emergency assistance for the victim.

Article 17. Organization of securing the accident site

1. When an accident occurs on the urban rail, the train driver or safety support staff (if the train operates in automatic driving mode without a driver) must immediately report to the train dispatcher of the Urban Rail Traffic Control Center to organize securing the area where the accident occurred, and the train dispatcher must inform subsequent trains to stop.

2. After reporting the accident situation to the train dispatcher, the train driver and safety support staff must organize securing the accident site, set up warning flares with distances ranging from 200 meters to 500 meters, and reassure passengers on the train.

Section 2

REPORTING ON ACCIDENTS

Article 18. Procedure for reporting when an accident occurs

1. The train driver or safety support staff must immediately report to the train dispatcher.

2. The train dispatcher must immediately report to the stations at both ends of the section and the enterprise managing, operating, and running the urban rail.

3. The enterprise managing, operating, and running the urban rail must immediately report to the following organizations and individuals:

a) The nearest People's Committee at the location of the accident (in cases of fatal accidents and other situations requiring coordination with People's Committees at all levels) and related units;

b) The nearest public security agency.

4. The Department of Transport must immediately report to the Ministry of Transport in cases of serious urban rail traffic accidents or worse.

Article 19. Measures to Report Information

1. When an accident occurs, all measures must be taken promptly through communication means, including contacting directly to report information about the accident to organizations and individuals related as prescribed in Article 18 of this Circular.

2. In cases where the individuals specified in Article 18 of this Circular cannot contact one of the related organizations or individuals, they shall request the organization or individual they have contacted to cooperate and support in reporting information to the remaining organization or individual.

Article 20. Content of Information to be Reported

1. The initial contents of information about accidents must be timely, accurate, and include the following main elements:

a) Location where the accident occurred (kilometer, section, commune, ward, district, county, province, city);

b) Time when the accident occurred;

c) Number of fatalities, number of injured persons;

d) Preliminary status of the scene, damaged vehicles, affected infrastructure;

d) Other important information related to the accident that the person reporting can provide.

2. In addition to the initial report as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, railway traffic controllers must prepare an accident report according to the Model prescribed in Appendix No. 1 issued together with this Circular. The accident report must be sent along with the initial file of the accident to competent authorities as prescribed in Clause 3 of Article 22 of this Circular.

3. Urban rail management enterprises must organize a permanent department, establish a 24/7 hotline to receive and report information about incidents and accidents on urban rail in a timely manner, and publicly disclose the phone number, fax number, and email address on mass media.

Article 21. Handling Reports of Accidents

All organizations and individuals who receive reports of accidents or requests for cooperation and support in reporting information must take all measures to implement the request and report back to the requester (if possible), while immediately implementing tasks and professional measures as prescribed if the accident falls within their scope of responsibility. If the accident does not fall within their scope of responsibility, they must continue to report the accident to the organization or individual responsible for cooperation and support when requested.

Section 3

ESTABLISHING THE INITIAL FILE OF THE ACCIDENT

Article 22. Establishing the Initial File of the Accident

1. The accident file is established by the competent public security authority. Along with protecting the scene, providing emergency medical care to victims, and reporting the accident, the train driver or safety support staff must report accurately the situation at the scene to the Urban Rail Transport Control Center.

2. The accident report prepared by the train driver or safety support staff includes:

a) The accident record (according to the Model prescribed in Appendix No. 2 issued together with this Circular);

b) The report of relevant urban rail staff (according to the Model prescribed in Appendix No. 1 issued together with this Circular);

c) The handover record of victims, property, and related documents.

3. The accident report must be submitted to competent authorities as follows:

a) One copy to the district or county public security agency where the urban rail traffic accident occurred within 12 hours from the time of the accident;

b) One copy to the Department of Transportation;

c) One copy to the enterprise managing, operating, and running the urban rail.

Chapter IV

REGIME OF STATISTICS, REPORTING, AND ANALYSIS OF INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS ON URBAN RAIL

Article 23. Regime of Statistics and Reporting

1. All incidents and accidents must be reported to serve as a basis for analyzing causes, summarizing the overall safety situation in urban rail operations, and advising leaders at all levels on ensuring traffic order and safety on urban rail.

2. Enterprises managing, operating, and running urban rail have the responsibility to organize the work of storing, statistics, reporting, and summarizing the situation regarding incidents and accidents on urban rail.

3. Monthly, quarterly, every six months, nine months, and annually, enterprises managing, operating, and running urban rail must summarize the situation of incidents and accidents on urban rail according to regulations and report to the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-administered cities managing those urban rail lines. The reports must be carried out according to the forms prescribed in Appendix No. 3 issued together with this Circular.

Article 24. Analysis of urban railway traffic accidents and incidents

1. Urban railway traffic accidents and incidents must be analyzed for their causes, measures to address them must be studied when such accidents or incidents occur, and these measures must be implemented.

2. Enterprises managing, operating, and running urban railways shall be responsible for analyzing urban railway traffic accidents and incidents, studying measures to address them when such accidents or incidents occur, and implementing those measures.

3. In cases where serious or more severe accidents or incidents occur, the People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities managing urban railway lines shall decide to establish an Accident Investigation Board for urban railway traffic accidents and incidents, which shall include representatives from enterprises managing, operating, and running urban railways; representatives from relevant agencies and units; and experts in the field of railway transportation safety and urban railway transportation.

Chapter V

IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

Article 25. Effective Date

This Circular takes effect from January 10, 2016.

Article 26. Implementation

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

2. The People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities with operational urban railway lines shall establish and promulgate regulations on coordination in handling urban railway traffic accidents and incidents within their jurisdiction; they shall take the lead and coordinate with relevant agencies to organize inspections and supervision of the implementation of this Circular.

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

4. The Director of the Ministry’s Office, the Inspector General of the Ministry, Heads of Departments, the Director of the Vietnam Railway Administration, and Heads of agencies and units and related individuals shall be responsible for implementing this Circular./.