CHƯƠNG II Luật Đường sắt 2005: Kết cấu hạ tầng đường sắt

Chapter II

RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURES

Section 1. RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING, INVESTMENT AND CONSTRUCTION

Article 13.- Vietnamese railway system:

1. The Vietnamese railway system includes:

a) National railways in service of common transport demands of the whole country, each economic region and international transportation;

b) Urban railways in service of daily movement demands of passengers in cities and the vicinities thereof;

c) Specialized railways in service of exclusive transport demands of organizations or individuals.

2. The Minister of Transport shall publicize the national railways, urban railways, specialized railways connected to national railways; publicize the opening and closure of rail routes, route sections, depot-to-depot sections of national railways.

3. Provincial-level People's Committees shall publicize urban railways under their local management.

4. Ministries, provincial-level People's Committees shall publicize specialized railways under their respective management, which are not connected to national railways.

Article 14.- Planning on railway infrastructure development

1. The planning on development of national railway infrastructures must be in line with the approved overall planning on railway development; meet the national defense and security maintenance requirements; be associated with plannings on development of economic regions, branches and plannings on development of various modes of transportation. The planning on development of national railway infrastructures shall be formulated for every ten-year period with orientations for the following ten years.

2. The planning on development of urban railway infrastructures must be in line with the approved overall planning on railway development; meet the requirements of local socio-economic development; be associated with plannings on development of other public transportation modes. The planning on development of urban railway infrastructures shall be formulated for every ten-year period with orientations for the following ten years.

3. The plannings on communications and transport development of special-grade, grade-I urban centers, national seaports, international airports must include the contents on railway infrastructure development.

Article 15.- Formulating, approving and publicizing plannings on railway infrastructure development

1. The Minister of Transport shall organize the formulation of planning on national railway infrastructure development and submit it to the Prime Minister for approval; organize the formulation and approval of detailed plannings on railway infrastructure development of each region, railway traffic hubs in conformity with the approved planning on national railway infrastructure development.

2. Provincial-level People's Committees shall organize the formulation of urban railway infrastructure development plannings and submit them to the People's Councils of the same level for approval before submission thereof to the Minister of Transport for approval.

3. Railway infrastructure development planning-approving agencies and persons defined in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article may adjust the plannings when necessary.

4. The Minister of Transport, provincial-level People's Committee presidents shall, within the ambit of their respective tasks and powers, have the responsibility to publicize the approved plannings; organize the implanting of boundary markers for planned railway land.

Article 16.- Fund for planning on railway infrastructure development

1. The fund for the planning formulation, appraisal and publicization, the planned land boundary markerpost implanting and the adjustment of planning on national railway infrastructure development shall be allocated by the central budget.

2. The fund for the planning formulation, appraisal and publicization, the planned land boundary markerpost implanting and the adjustment of planning on urban railway infrastructure development shall be allocated by local budgets.

3. In addition to the funding sources specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article, the fund for railway infrastructure development planning may be mobilized from other capital sources under the provisions of law.

4. The Ministry of Finance shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Construction in, promulgating detailed norms for the planning formulation, appraisal and publicization, the planned land boundary markerpost implanting and the adjustment of plannings on development of national railway infrastructures and urban railway infrastructures.

Article 17.- Land reserved for railways

1. Land reserved for railways comprises land for construction of railway works, land in railway work protection areas and land in railway traffic safety corridors.

2. Land reserved for railways must be used for the approved purposes and comply with the provisions of land law.

3. People's Committees of all levels shall have the following responsibilities:

a) To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with investors in, ground clearance and resettlement of displaced people;

b) To manage the land planned for railways.

4. Newly constructed works within land areas reserved for railways and marked off with boundary markerposts shall not be entitled to compensation upon ground clearance, except for works constructed in accordance with the provisions in Article 33 of this Law.

Article 18.- Investment in construction of railway infrastructures

1. Investment in construction of railway infrastructures means the investment in construction of new railway infrastructures; technological renewal; upgrading, improvement of existing railway infrastructures; railway electricification; modernization of railway communication and signaling system.

2. Investors in construction of railway infrastructures must observe the following regulations:

a) To comply with the approved plannings, plans and projects;

b) To ensure synchronism according to railway technical grades;

c) To ensure landscapes and environmental protection.

3. Investors in construction of national railway infrastructures, urban railway infrastructures shall enjoy the following preferences:

a) To be allocated land without the collection of land use levies for land used for construction of rail routes; to rent with the most preferential terms land for construction of other railway infrastructure works;

b) To be provided with full support in ground clearance fund for land used for construction of rail routes;

c) To be entitled to exemption or reduction of import tax on supplies, technologies, technical equipment, which cannot be manufactured at home yet under the provisions of tax legislation;

d) Other preferences as provided for by law.

4. Railway works, after being constructed, upgraded or renovated, must be tested before acceptance by competent agencies.

5. Ministries, provincial-level People's Committees shall, within the ambit of their tasks and powers, publicize lists of projects calling for investment in each period and lists of projects already granted investment licenses.

Article 19.- Railway connection

1. The positions for connecting domestic railway routes must be at railway stations. The Minister of Transport shall decide on the connection of urban railways and specialized railways to national railways.

2. Only national railways can be connected to foreign railways. The Prime Minister shall decide on the connection between national railways and foreign railways.

Article 20.- Railway gauges and railway technical standards

1. The national railways shall have the gauges of 1,435 millimeters or 1,000 millimeters. The urban railways shall have the gauge of 1,435 millimeters or automatic-guided monorail. Specialized railways shall not be connected to national railways as the investing organizations or individuals have decided on the railway gauges for their own use demands.

2. Railways shall be classified according to technical grades. The Minister of Transport shall stipulate the technical grades and railway technical standards.

Article 21.- Railway stations

1. Railway stations shall include:

a) Passenger station, which is a system of works constructed for receiving and releasing passengers, providing services related to passenger transportation and technical operations; a passenger station must comprise works in exclusive service of disabled passengers;

b) Freight station, which is a system of works constructed for cargo delivery, reception, loading, unloading and preservation, for provision of services related to cargo transportation and technical operations;

c) Technical station, which is a system of works constructed for performance of technical operations of locomotives, cars in service of train operations;

d) Mixed station, which is a station having the functions of two or three types of station defined at Points a, b and c of this Clause.

2. Railway stations must be named, but not identically. Multi-track passenger stations must have platform signboards and signboards directing to station platforms. Tracks in stations must be numbered separately but not identically.

3. Railway stations must have emergency exit systems; fire prevention and fighting systems with adequate equipment and instruments ready for use when necessary; the lighting, ventilation, environmental sanitation systems.

4. The Minister of Transport shall promulgate the technical regulations, on exploitation and technical standards of railway stations; decide and publicize the opening and closure of railway stations.

Article 22.- Fixed signalling facilities, equipment on railways

1. The fixed signalling facilities and equipment on railways include:

a) Signal posts, signal lights;

b) Signboards, sign marks;

c) Signal boards;

d) Barricade, barriers;

e) Boundary markerposts;

f) Other signals.

2. The fixed signaling facilities and equipment on railways must be constructed and installed adequately in conformity with technical grades and types or railroads; be periodically inspected so that the signaling facilities and equipment regularly operate well.

Article 23.- Railways intersect other railways or roads

1. Railways intersect railways must be grade crossing, except for cases where specialized railways intersect other specialized railways.

2. When railways intersect roads, grade-crossing intersections must be built in the following cases:

a) Railways with the designed speed of 160 km/hour or higher intersect roads;

b) Railways intersect roads of grade III or higher; railways intersect urban roads;

c) Urban railways intersect roads, except iron-wheel tram ways.

3. Investors in construction of new railways shall have to build grade-crossing intersections as provided for in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article; investors in construction of new roads shall have to build grade-crossing intersections as provided for in Clause 2 of this Article.

4. For cases not specified in Clause 2 of this Article, when conditions do not permit the construction of grade-crossing intersections yet, People's Committees at different levels, project investors or organizations and individuals having demands to cross railways must observe the following regulations:

a) At places where the construction of crossroads is allowed, the Ministry of Transport's regulations must be complied with;

b) At places where the construction of crossroads is not allowed, feeding roads must be built outside the railway traffic safety corridors, leading to the nearest crossroads or grade-crossing intersections.

Article 24.- Railways run in close parallel with roads

1. In cases where railways and roads run in close parallel, it must be ensured that one road/railway must lie outside the traffic safety corridor of the other road/railway; where terrains do not permit, a seperating protection work must be built on the road's edge close to the railway, except for cases where the rail tops are three or more meters higher than the land road surface.

2. In cases where a railway and a road run in vertical parallel, the vertical distance from the highest point of the underneath surface of the road or the underneath top of the rail of the railway to the lowest point of the above road infrastructure must be equal to the height ensuring the traffic safety of the below road.

Section 2. PROTECTION OF RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURES

Article 25.- Activities of protecting railway infrastructures

Activities of protecting railway infrastructures are activities aiming to ensure the safety and lifetime of railway works; preventing, combating, overcoming the consequences of natural calamities and accidents; preventing, stopping and handling acts of encroaching upon railway works, railway work protection scope and/or railway traffic safety corridors.

Article 26.- Railway work protection scope

The railway work protection scope shall cover:

1. The railway protection scope;

2. The railway bridge protection scope;

3. The railway tunnel protection scope;

4. The railway station protection scope;

5. The scope for protection of communication and signaling facilities, railway electricity supply systems;

6. The scope for protection of underground areas of railway works.

Article 27.- Railway protection scope

The railroad protection scope covering the overhead areas, land strips on both sides and the underground areas of the railroads is provided for as follows:

1. The overhead protection scope of a railway shall be 5.30 meters measuring from the rail top vertically upwards for the 1,000 mm-gauge according to the technical grade, or 6.55 meters for the 1,435 mm-gauge. The distance between the railway and the power transmission lines stretching above the railway shall comply with the provisions of the Electricity Law;

2. The protection scope of the land strips on both sides of the railway shall be determined as follows:

a) 7 meters from the outer edge of the outermost rail outwards for non-embanked or non-dug roadbeds;

b) 5 meters from the foot of the embanked roadbeds or 3 meters from the outer edge of the water drainage ditches outwards for embanked roadbeds;

c) 5 meters from the top edge of dug road or 3 meters from the outer edge of top water drainage ditches outwards for dug roadbeds;

3. The protection scope of the underground areas of railways shall comply with the provisions of Article 32 of this Law.

Article 28.- Railway bridge protection scope

1. The railway bridge protection scope covers the overhead spaces, the land areas, water areas and the under-water surface land areas around the bridges.

2. The overhead protection scope of a bridge shall be 2 meters measuring vertically from the highest point of the bridge structure; in cases where the bridge only has rails, the overhead protection scope of the bridge must not be shorter than the limited height defined in Clause 1, Article 27 of this Law.

3. The lengthwise bridge protection scope shall be calculated as follows:

a) From the protection signal post on this bridge head to the protection signal post on the other bridge head, for bridges with protection signal posts;

b) From the end of the abutment on this bridge head to the end of the abutment on the other head plus 50 meters to each head of the bridge, for bridges without protection signal posts.

4. Horizontal bridge protection scope shall be calculated as follows:

a) For viaducts and river-spanning bridges of less than 20 meters long in urban centers, it is 5 meters counting from the outermost edge of the rail to each side;

b) For river-spanning bridges of 20 meters long or over in urban centers and bridges outside urban centers, it is 20 meters counting from the outermost edge of the bridge structure to each side, for bridges of less than 20 meters long; 50 meters for bridges of between 20 and under 60 meters long; 100 meters for bridges of between 60 to 300 meters long; 150 meters for bridges of over 300 meters long.

Article 29.- Railway tunnel protection scope

The railway tunnel protection scope covering land areas and overhead spaces around the tunnels it is 50 meters to each side, measuring from the outermost point of the tunnel walls outward; in cases where the tunnel protection scope fails to satisfy this regulation, there must be technical solutions to ensure safety for the tunnel work, which shall be approved by the Minister of Transport.

Article 30.- Railway station protection scope

The railway station protection scope shall cover the fence walls, boundary markerposts, the total land area and overhead space within the fence walls, station boundary markerposts, within the land stretch from the station entry signal post on this end to the station-entry signal post on the other end of the railway station.

Article 31.- Scope for protection of railway communication and signaling systems, railway electricity supply systems

The scope for protection of railway communication and signaling facilities and railway electricity supply systems covers the overhead areas, the land areas around such facilities, which shall be calculated as follows:

1. The scope for protection of communication posts, signal posts, railways electric posts outside railway protection scope shall be 3.5 meters from the heart of the posts outwards;

2. The scope for protection of railway communication lines, signal lines, electricity wires shall be 2.5 meters from the outermost line horizontally outwards and vertically upwards.

Article 32.- The scope for protection of underground areas of railway works

The scope for protection of underground areas of railway works upon the construction of underground works beneath the railway works shall be decided by the Minister of Transport.

Article 33.- Work construction and activities within railway work protection scope

1. Works which must be constructed or activities which must be carried out within the railway work protection scope must be licensed under the regulations of the Minister of Transport.

2. Work investors or organizations, individuals carrying out activities within the railway work protection scope must comply with the following regulations:

a) Upon formulation of projects on work construction or carrying out of activities, there must be written opinions of enterprises managing railway infrastructures;

b) Before constructing the works or carrying out the activities, there must be schemes to ensure safety for the railway works and railway communication and transport, which are approved in writing by enterprises managing railway infrastructures;

c) Upon completion of works or conclusion of activities, all obstacles which may cause unsafety to railway works or railway communication and transport due to the work construction or activities must be removed; and the dossiers on construction completion must be handed over to enterprises managing the railway infrastructure.

3. Work investors or organizations, individuals carrying out activities within the railway work protection scope must compensate for damage caused to railway works and railway communication and transport safety due to their faults as provided for by law.

Article 34.- Constructing works, exploiting natural resources and carrying out other activities in vicinities of railway work protection scope

1. The construction of works, the exploitation of natural resources and the carrying out of other activities in the vicinities of railway work protection scope must not affect the safety of such railway works and the safety of railway communications and transport.

2. In cases where the work construction, natural resource exploitation and other activities may affect the safety of railway works or the safety of railway communications and transport, the work investors, the organizations and/or individuals exploiting natural resources or carrying out other activities must apply necessary measures to ensure safety for railway works and safety of railway communications and transport.

3. The work investors, the organizations and/or individuals exploiting natural resources or carrying out other activities must compensate for damage caused by their faults to railway works and railway communications and transport safety.

Article 35.- Railway traffic safety corridor

1. The railway traffic safety corridor limits shall be provided for as follows:

a) The limited overhead height from the rail top upward along the vertical direction shall comply with the provisions of Clause 1, Article 27 of this Law;

b) The limited width on both sides of a railway shall be 15 meters to each side, measuring from the foot edge of the embanked railroad foundation, the top edge of the talus of dug railroad, the outmost rail edge of non-dug or non-embanked railroad, for railroads in the depot-to-depot sections; 2 meters to each side, measuring from the outmost rail edge outwards, for railroads in stations, ports, within fence walls.

2. The railway traffic safety corridor in crossroad areas must ensure the vision of traffic participants and conform to the grade of the crossroads.

3. In the railway traffic safety corridors, it is only permitted to plant trees of under 1.5 meters high and trees must be planted at least 2 meters from the edge of the foot of the roadbeds, at least 5 meters from the top talus of dug roads or at least 3 meters from the edge of the horizontal water drainage ditches of the roads and the top water drainage ditches.

4. The Minister of Transport shall specify the railway traffic safety corridors in crossroad, urban railway areas.

Article 36.- Responsibilities to protect railway infrastructures

1. Railway infrastructure enterprises shall have the responsibility to protect, inspect, repair, maintain railway works in order to ensure smooth and safe railway communications and transport.

2. Organizations and individuals using railway infrastructures for communications and transport activities must strictly comply with the regulations on railway infrastructure safety.

3. People's Committees at all levels in the localities where railways run through shall have the responsibility to organize the propagation for and educate in railway infrastructure protection among people; prevent, stop and handle in time acts of infringing upon railway infrastructures and railway communications and transport safety in their respective localities.

4. Organizations and individuals shall have responsibility to protect railway infrastructures, take part in rescue when railway works get damage. Upon detection of damaged railway works or infringement upon railway infrastructures, they must promptly report such to People's Committees, railway infrastructure enterprises or police offices at the nearest places. Persons who receive such reports must promptly apply handling measures to ensure the railway communications and transport safety.

5. The Ministry of Transport shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Defense in, protecting railway works of special importance.

6. All acts of infringing upon railway infrastructures must be detected in time, handled strictly and lawfully.

Article 37.- Preventing, combating, overcoming the consequences of incidents, natural calamities, accidents to railway infrastructures

1. Railway infrastructure enterprises shall have the responsibility to assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the administrations of the localities where railways run through and the concerned organizations and individuals in, preventing, combating and redressing the consequences of incidents, natural calamities, railway traffic accidents.

2. Upon the occurrence of incidents, natural calamities and/or accidents, thus damaging railway infrastructures, the railway infrastructure enterprises shall have to promptly overcome the consequences, restore traffic, rehabilitate railway infrastructures up to the technical safety and environmental protection standards.

3. Upon the occurrence of incidents, natural calamities and/or accidents, thus causing railway traffic congestion, the railway communications and transport administering organizations shall have the right to mobilize necessary means, equipment, supplies and human resources and assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the administrations of the localities where the incidents happen in, overcoming the consequences, restoring communications and transport. The mobilized organizations and individuals are obliged to abide by the mobilization and shall be paid the expenses.

4. Organizations and/or individuals causing incidents and/or accidents shall have to pay expenses for overcoming the consequences of incidents, accidents, compensate for damage and be handled according to the provisions of law.