Warning lights, barriers patrols are to be installed at dangerousrailway crossings to cut down the number of fatal accidents andinjuries, the Hanoi Department of Transport has said.

Thecrossings include 11 crash spots in Thanh Tri, Thuong Tin and Phu Xuyendistricts including those in Hoang Liet Ward, at Tu Ky Pagoda inHoang Mai district and at Dau Pagoda in Thuong Tin district.
The department has set up guard stations at nine crash spots, most of them in Thuong Tin and Phu Xuyen districts.
In the first three months this year, more than 20 accidents occurredin Hanoi ’s railway system, 11 more than in the same period lastyear, the department said. They killed 23 people and injured 17.

Themain cause of the accidents is drivers and pedestrians failing to payattention, department deputy director Nguyen Xuan Tan said.

Thelatest railway accident occurred on March 30 when a bus driver failed toobey warning signals in Nguyen Trai commune, Thuong Tin district. Ninepeople died in the accident and 10 others were injured.

In November, 2009, seven people died when a train crashed into a bus in Thuong Tin district’s Van Tu commune.

Thedepartment proposed the Vietnam Railway Administration and districtauthorities put up more warning signs and instructions at railway andcrossings.

At present, the Railway Law and crossingregulations do not punish drivers or pedestrians who ignore warningssignals and deliberately cross at the wrong place, he said.

Also, Tan said the department does not punish people who built houses too close to railway safety zones.

“Legislative bodies should have strict punishment for drivers whoviolate railway safety regulations and raise local residents’awareness,” Tan said./.