The State Duma approved a 5-fold increase in the fine for the wrong crossing of railway tracks

For Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Leningrad regions, features are prescribed

The State Duma adopted in the second, decisive reading, and next week will adopt in the third a bill that raises the fine for crossing railways in an unspecified place from 100 rubles to 500 rubles. This is for the whole country. On the territory of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Leningrad regions, the fine will increase from 100 to 1,500 rubles.

The bill was submitted to parliament last fall by the Moscow Regional Duma. One of the problems “in the sphere of passenger transportation” by suburban electric trains, and in the territory of the Moscow region, first of all, is stated in the explanatory note to the initiative – “a high level of injuries of citizens.”

Despite the fact that the regional authorities and structures of the Russian Railways are taking measures, that is, they are equipping crossings and informing them about them, citizens do not care.

The document provides the following statistics: according to the Moscow Railway, from 2018 to September 2022, 2,396 people were injured within the boundaries of the Moscow Region, of which 1,652 were fatal. The main causes of injuries are still gross violations of the rules by the victims themselves: walking on railway tracks in an unspecified place – 1683 cases (72% of the total number of accidents); injury at a single-level pedestrian crossing (pedestrian flooring) – 446 cases (19% of the total number of incidents); attempt to climb or jump from passenger platforms – 160 cases (6.8% of the total number of incidents), etc.

Article 11.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses now promises a warning or a fine of 100 rubles for “passing on railway tracks in unspecified places”. This is disproportionate to the current level of prices and the degree of danger of violation, considered in the Moscow Regional Duma, and proposed to raise the fine to 2 thousand rubles.

The profile Duma Committee on State Construction and Legislation admitted that, although the explanatory note provides data primarily for the Moscow Region, the problem is “relevant” for other regions as well, and the fine has not been reviewed since 2007. But 2,000 rubles is too much, the committee concludes, especially since “in some regions the necessary preventive measures have not been sufficiently implemented,” that is, there are simply not enough equipped crossings.

When discussing the bill in the meeting room, Oleg Gadzhiev, a representative of the Moscow Regional Duma, named as examples of preventive measures implemented by the railway workers “the installation of cameras with face recognition, the formation of directed pedestrian flows by installing permanent fences of the “snake” type and sidewalks to the crossings, the installation of fences along the railway tracks and the duty of volunteers.”

The deputies asked questions about how to be there, where there are no equipped crossings in principle. Such examples were also given: on one side of the railway track there is a village, on the other – a rural cemetery, and “the deceased must be carried a kilometer to the crossing, if according to the rules.” Mr. Gadzhiev explained that citizens walk along the tracks in unspecified places, first of all, by “psychology”: “The point is in folk trails, as people used to walk before, they try to move around, despite a whole range of measures” …

For the second reading, the text was finalized and supplemented with important clarifications. Firstly, for the whole country the fine was raised only to 500 rubles. And for Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Leningrad regions, where the problem is especially relevant – up to 1,500 rubles.

But at the same time, a reservation was made: the one who crossed the railway tracks in an unspecified place will be punished only if “within one kilometer” from the place of the unauthorized crossing there is “a specially equipped pedestrian crossing, tunnel, bridge or other place provided for the transition and marked with an information sign”.

The transport police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are entrusted with drawing up a protocol on the offense and considering cases of this kind.

The law, which the deputies plan to adopt in the third, final reading on July 25, will come into force 10 days after its publication. This means that the authorities will be able to issue new fines in August.