In February, the Romanian Government approved the Regulation for accident investigation, safety increase and improvement on the railways and on the underground transport network, additional to Law 55/2006 on railway transport safety. The Regulation was elaborated by the Romanian Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and submitted for approval to the Romanian Government in November 2009. According to the draft approved by the Romanian Government, the Romanian Railway Investigating Body (OIFR), a permanent and independent body which operates within the Romanian Railway Authority (AFER), will handle the investigation of railway accidents and also provide the main investigator for train incidents. OIFR also provides the necessary resources to that effect. “The Regulation approved by the Romanian Government improves the railway and underground safety conditions”, said Dragoş Floroiu, General Manager OIFR. The Regulation also defines the terms of “accident”, “serious accident”, “serious damages”, “incident”, “investigation” and “main investigator”.
Hence, “serious accidents” involve at least one death, the serious injury of at least five people and serious damages. “Incidents” include, among others, the simultaneous arrival of trains, train departures of arrivals when the railway is jammed and post abandonment of the personnel in charge of railway traffic safety.
“Accidents or incidents do not include the situations leading to accidental railway traffic shut down of natural causes (floods, broken trees on tracks, fire, snow, earthquake etc.), railway vehicle malfunction, locomotive pantograph malfunction, broken train and leaks from wagons containing chemical substances”, shows a press release from the ministry. The safety centres of railway operators will elaborate monthly, quarterly, semi annual and annual statistics of accidents and incidents. The Regulation concerns the entire spectre of economic operators which develop railway transport operations in Romania, as well as the public rail infrastructure manager, non-interoperable infrastructure managers, licensed railway transport operators – national or private, economic operators who own industrial lines or railway vehicles, METROREX and all economic operators who develop activities associated to railway transport.
In case of any accident or incident, OIFR ensures the necessary resources for the investigation. These resources can come from inside or outside OIFR, depending on the type of accident/incident investigated.
The responsibility for ensuring a safe exploitation of the railway system and risk control belongs to the economic operators who develop railway transport operations. They have the obligation to apply the
necessary risk control measures, if required in collaboration, to apply the national safety regulations and standards and to implement safety management systems, shows the document.
Traffic safety evaluations represent a component of the railway or underground safety management system. These evaluations process, through educational materials, the accidents and incidents, as well as the errors made and the application of the measures established following the control actions taken. Periodically, AFER, together with the economic operators who develop railway/underground transport operations, will analyse their activity in the field of railway safety and establish, if required, measures that have to be taken in order to improve railway/underground safety.
by Elena Ilie
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