Railway accidents in Vietnam

Railway accidents in Vietnam are common. In 2010, 451 railway accidents were reported across the country's railway network, having caused 211 deaths and 284 injuries. A joint Japanese-Vietnamese evaluation team reported in 2007 that the poor state of railway infrastructure was the fundamental cause for most railway accidents, of which the most common types were train crashes against vehicles and persons, especially at illegal level crossings; derailments caused by failure to decrease speed were also noted as a common cause of accidents. As of 2010, around 90% of all railway accidents occurred at level crossings without safety fences, and most were said to have been caused by motorists failing to follow traffic safety laws.

Along with recent efforts aimed at infrastructure rehabilitation, the recent adoption of safety measures by national railway operator Vietnam Railways has led to a decline in railway accidents. These measures include: public awareness campaigns on railway safety in the media; construction of fences and safety barriers at critical level crossings in major cities; mobilization of volunteers for traffic control at train stations and level crossings, especially during holiday seasons; the installation of additional auto-signal systems; and the construction of flyovers and underpasses to redirect traffic.

According to statistics released by Vietnam Railways, 442 railway accidents were reported across the country's railway network in 2008, having caused 190 deaths and 262 injuries; most of these accidents were said to have been caused by motorists failing to follow railway safety regulations. By way of comparison, the number of fatalities due to railway accidents was recorded as 115 in 1998, and 82 in 1988. The following table gives recent statistics for railway accidents in Vietnam:

As a whole, railway accidents account for 1.5% to 1.6% of all transportation accidents occurring in Vietnam, contributing to 1.8% to 2.35% of all fatalities and 0.7% to 0.8% of all injuries. Averaged over a ten-year period from 1988 to 1998, the number of railway accidents taking place at level crossings was recorded as 2,595, or 66.3% of all railway accidents during that period. This rate can also be expressed as 12.34 accidents per million train-km, which is 4 times higher than the accident rate in Canada, and 100 times that of India.

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