Drivers are laid rails in the management company

JSC Russian Railways insists on a radical tightening of sanctions for drivers who violate traffic rules at railway crossings. Citizens who were responsible for a collision between a vehicle and a train are proposed to be held criminally liable, regardless of the severity of the consequences. Currently, the maximum penalty is deprivation of rights for up to six months. If the initiative is accepted, such an accident could be punished with imprisonment for up to two years. The relevant State Duma committee told Kommersant that they generally support such measures.

Russian Railways has sent proposals to the Russian government to increase liability for drivers who violate the rules for crossing railway crossings, the company’s general director Oleg Belozerov said yesterday. According to him, in 2023 the number of such incidents increased by 12% compared to 2022 (up to 245 cases), 54 people died. “In 100% of cases, motorists are found to be at fault; we are forced to propose unpopular measures,” said Mr. Belozerov.

It is proposed to adjust Art. 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Violation of traffic rules and operation of vehicles,” the company’s press service explained: criminal liability is introduced for a collision with a train, regardless of the severity of the consequences. Thus, if the proposals are adopted, train accidents could be punishable by up to two years in prison if the driver is at fault.

The company also proposes to strengthen administrative responsibility under Art. 12.10 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which is applied when entering a crossing with a prohibitory traffic light signal. Today the court may impose a fine of 5 thousand rubles. or deprivation of rights for a period of three to six months (up to a year for repeated violation). Russian Railways proposes to increase the minimum period of deprivation of rights to six months, the maximum to one year, and in case of repeated violation to two years.

“Cases of violation of rules on railway tracks carry an increased danger compared to other violations of traffic rules, sanctions should be exceptional,” said Russian Railways. “Drivers driving onto the tracks block transport communications, creating a threat to the life, health and safety of people. This threat exists both in relation to passengers of cars, trains, and in relation to railway transport workers (there is always a locomotive crew on a train, and tens and hundreds of people on a passenger train).”

There have been several major accidents on railway tracks over the past few months. On October 9, 2023, the driver of a car ran a red light at a crossing in the Losino-Petrovsky district near Moscow, near the Oseevskaya railway station, and as a result collided with an electric train – two people died. On November 12, at a crossing between the Yantal and Lena stations of the East Siberian Railway, a truck driver drove onto the tracks in front of a passenger train; as a result of the accident, the driver, his assistant and the driver of the heavy truck were killed. On January 11, 2024, in the Stavropol Territory, in the section between the Svetlograd and Mokraya Buivola stations, the driver of a passenger car drove onto a controlled crossing in front of a freight train, the driver also did not have time to brake – three children died in the accident.

Liability for violations at crossings was already tightened three years ago at the initiative of the Ministry of Transport. The corresponding amendments to the Administrative Code came into force on May 1, 2021. The fine applied as an alternative punishment to deprivation of rights was increased from 1 thousand to 5 thousand rubles, and the 50 percent discount when paying it was also cancelled.

“An increase of 12% in itself is not a justification (for introducing criminal liability.— “Kommersant”), says Popular Front road safety expert Katerina Solovyova. “The causes of road accidents must first be carefully analyzed. The problem needs to be solved comprehensively. If Russian Railways believes that a sharp increase in fines will make it so that no one will travel through the crossings, then this is a delusion.”

Often, in an accident at crossings, no one gets hurt, only train traffic is delayed, notes the head of the Probok.net expert center, Alexander Shumsky: “Even if we are talking about several hours, is this really a reason for criminal liability?” “Many violations occur due to the imperfection of the railway infrastructure, which Russian Railways does not want to modernize,” the expert notes. “Over the past few decades, the number of crossings has decreased threefold, many have closed because there is no money to maintain them. New ones are being built slowly. As a result, neighborhoods and sometimes entire cities are separated by railroad tracks. Drivers are forced to break the rules in order to avoid overtravelling; they often try to cross the tracks where there used to be a crossing.” The expert also talks about cases when accidents occur due to the fault of crossing guards: several years ago, a video was discussed online where a passenger train was traveling at high speed with an open barrier. “Most accidents occur at unguarded railway crossings, and the problem must be solved differently – to reduce the number of such places, and not endlessly increase punishments and rewrite different articles of the codes again and again,” lawyer Sergei Radko agrees.

“In general, we support tougher penalties for violations at crossings, but in Russia there should be a program for the construction of two-level crossings,” said Evgeny Moskvichev, head of the Duma Committee on Transport, commenting on the initiative. “Only technological crossings should remain at one level. It is the responsibility of the state to solve this problem.” Back in 2018, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Transport Sergei Aristov said that “fines alone cannot solve the issue,” promising “a whole range of measures,” including the construction of overpasses over the tracks. “It costs quite a lot of money, especially considering that almost 90% of moves are financed at the regional and municipal levels,” he said. Let us remind you that such a program exists in the Moscow region; in 2024, five new overpasses will be completed and opened in the region (including in Anikeevka and Opalikha). Overpass projects in Mordovia, Sverdlovsk, Amur, Yaroslavl, Tambov, Samara and other regions are also included in the government’s five-year road plan until 2028. At the same time, there are still a lot of single-level crossings, there are 347 of them in the Moscow Region alone. In 2019, according to the Ministry of Transport, there were more than 10 thousand of them throughout Russia.

Ivan Buranov