Vietnam aims for safe, speedy railway
Nguyen Ngoc Dong, Vice Minister of Transport, speaks to Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper about his Ministry’s plan to develop a fast, yet safe railway service. Who is to blame for the rise in accidents at railroad crossing points in Viet Nam? I have to admit that railroad crossing points in our country are very complicated as operational management varies from one locality to another. As a result, crossing point management in some localities is good if they receive attention from local authorities, otherwise they are poorly managed. Adding to that, much railroad track was built before 1954 when the country was under the rule of the French. Another factor adding to the problem was that during land reforms, farmers were given land to till. Land was redistributed by local leaders, whether it ran across rail tracks or not.
