Train collides with tractor trailer at Hanoi crossing

On Saturday, the SE5 train with 12 cars was traveliing from the Hanoi Station to HCMC. At 9:24 a.m., as it was running on a track section through Van Tu Commune, it collided with a tractor trailer going through a railroad crossing.

Footages from surveillance cameras revealed that the trailer entered the crossing while the barrier had yet to be brought down. As the trailer was too long and heavy, the driver couldn’t maneuver the vehicle fast enough to get out in time. There was a railway worker stationed at the location, but she failed to inform the incoming train to stop.

When the trailer nearly got out of the crossing, the train came and collided with it. The railway worker was injured in the leg and was taken to the hospital. The SE5 locomotive was heavily damaged and had to be replaced. The train continued its journey at around 12 p.m.

 

 

Train collides with tractor trailer at Hanoi crossing

Nhân viên gác chắn không dừng tàu SE5 gây va chạm xe tả

A traffic safety official with the Vietnam Railways Corporation said Hanoi had already expended resources to deploy personnel to guard the railroad crossing, as it was an open entrance at a location with populated neighborhoods. The railway worker in question was managed by the Ha Tay Road Management and Construction Road Overland company.

“The watcher might have been inexperienced, so she did not inform the train to stop in time,” the official said.

Per existing regulations, open entrances at railroad crossings only allow coaches with under 9 seats, and trucks with a capacity below 2.5 tons, to pass through. However, the particular railroad crossing in question does not have warning signs, so the tractor trailer still tried to pass through the area.

Hanoi railroad authorities have requested to install warning signs at the location and other similar ones, while also making railroad watchers undergo frequent tests to reduce the risk of trains colliding with other vehicles.