Tragic accident
Within just one week, there were two railway accidents in Hanoi causing loss of life and property.
Most recently, at around 2:00 p.m. on February 10, in Van Giap commune, Thuong Tin district (Hanoi), a traffic accident occurred between the North-South Thong Nhat train and a woman riding a motorbike.
As a result, the woman riding the motorbike died on the spot. The motorbike with license plate 29V1-920.xx was dragged about 20m and completely deformed.
Six days earlier, at around 2:45 p.m. on February 4, on the North-South railway (through lane 46, Ngoc Hoi street, Hoang Liet ward, Hoang Mai district), a passenger train suddenly collided with a motorbike driven by a man, moving from Tu Ky village (Hoang Liet ward) to Ngoc Hoi street.
The strong collision caused the man on the motorbike to be thrown far away and died on the spot, the train dragged the motorbike 200m.
At the scene, the motorbike was damaged and completely deformed.
These are just two of many accidents between trains and other vehicles that have occurred in Hanoi recently. What is worrying is that the accidents all occurred at unsafe, self-made level crossings.
It's time to decisively close the self-opening crossroads.
Obviously, self-opening crosswalks are dangerous, unsafe and illegal.
According to the latest statistics of Vietnam Railway Corporation, there are 6 railway lines passing through Hanoi, with a total length of more than 160km. There are still about 450 intersections, including 180 legal level crossings and about 270 self-opened crossings.
Immediately after the accident on February 4, the railway industry coordinated with local authorities to barricade 4 self-opened crossings in Hoang Mai district (including the crossing where the accident occurred - PV).
According to Lieutenant Colonel Le Van Thang - Deputy Head of Hoang Mai District Police, previously, after reviewing, in 2024, Hoang Mai District Police had a document proposing to the Hoang Mai District People's Committee to direct the Hoang Liet Ward People's Committee to quickly remove 9 self-opened crossings across the railway, including the crossroads in front of alleys 6, 12, 16, 22, 26, 32, 38, 40, 46 of Ngoc Hoi Street (crossroads in alley 46 where an accident just occurred - PV).
Thus, the identification of self-opened railway crossings with high potential for traffic accidents has been carried out, however, the implementation of their elimination has not been really drastic.
"We fully support the fencing of self-opened crossroads. However, before doing this, we need to invest in renovating the service road system. Currently, the service roads are bumpy, bad, and unsafe, making it difficult for people to move to legal crossroads," said Mr. Hoang Thanh Tung (Hoang Liet ward, Hoang Mai district).
Agreeing with Mr. Tung, many other residents also said that they had to go through unsafe level crossings as a last resort. Ms. Mai (Thanh Tri, Hanoi) said that most accidents happened to people who rarely went through level crossings and were not vigilant.
"Now everyone is a little more aware. Before crossing, stop and observe, slow down for a few seconds but keep yourself and everyone safe," Ms. Mai shared.
According to traffic experts, it is necessary to quickly fence off illegal railway crossings that pose a high risk of traffic accidents, and move towards eliminating all illegal crossings.
Previously, in 2024, the Ministry of Transport issued a document requesting the People's Committees of provinces and cities with railways passing through to direct and urge local authorities to promptly prepare documents and submit them to competent authorities for approval of projects to build service roads and fences along railways to eliminate self-opened paths across railways; prioritize funding from local budgets to implement the elimination of self-opened paths across railways according to the approved plan and roadmap.
While waiting for removal, arrange personnel to guard at self-opened paths with high risk of traffic accidents...
