Circular No. 06/2019/TT-BGTVT dated January 31, 2019 of the Ministry of Transport on prescribing criteria for surveillance and acceptance testing of maintenance performance of national railway infrastructure in terms of maintenance quality, regime and procedures

THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT

CircularNo. 06/2019/TT-BGTVT dated January 31, 2019 of the Ministry of Transport on prescribing criteria for surveillance and acceptance testing of maintenance performance of national railway infrastructure in terms of maintenance quality, regime and procedures

Pursuant to the Law on Railway No. 06/2017/QH14 dated June 26, 2017;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 46/2018/ND-CP dated March 14, 2018 prescribing the management, use and operation of rail infrastructure assets;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 46/2015/ND-CP dated May 12, 2015 on management of quality and maintenance of construction projects;

Pursuant to the Government s Decree No. 12/2017/ND-CP dated February 10, 2017, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Transport;

Upon the request of the Director of the Department of Transport Infrastructure and the Director of Vietnam Railway Authority,

The Minister of Transport hereby promulgates the Circular that establishes the criteria for surveillance and acceptance testing of maintenance performance of national railway infrastructure in terms of maintenance quality, regime and procedures.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scopeof regulation

1. This Circular prescribes the criteria for surveillance and acceptance testing of maintenance performance of national railway infrastructure in terms of maintenance quality, regime and procedures

2. This Circular shall not apply to periodic or irregular maintenance of national railway infrastructure assets.

Article 2. Subjects of application

This Circular shall be applied to domestic and foreign organizations and individuals involved in carrying out the maintenance, surveillance and acceptance testing of performance of maintenance of national railway infrastructure assets in terms of maintenance quality.

Article 3. Interpretation

For the purposes of this Circular, terms used herein shall be construed as follows:

1.Railway infrastructurerefers to a railway infrastructure item, including: Rails, sleepers, rail fastening systems, rail connectors, switches (including switch connection accessories) and stone track ballast.

2.Track bedrefers to a railway infrastructure item, including:Mainline track beds, track beds inside rail terminals, track beds inside depots and freight storage yards; side ditches, intercepting ditches, track bed drainage ditches, blind ditches and subsurface drainage ditches.

3.Track bed protection facilityrefers to one of the track bed construction works, including:Gabions, embankments, embankment reinforcement structures, dikes built to prevent water from running down from the top of earth embankments.

4.Railroad bridgerefers to a railway infrastructure item, including:Bridge beams, bridge deck pavements, bridge bearings, expansion joints, abutments, piers, cones, wing walls, bridge protection structures.

5.Bridge deck pavementrefers to a bridge work item, including all or part of components of bridges, depending on bridge types, including: Rail (including guard rails, sleepers and track stone ballast), rail fastening systems, rail connectors, structures designed for maintaining the correct crosstie spacing and preventing crossties on bridge deck pavements from moving closer together, sleeper-beam fastening systems (with respect to railroad bridges with bare decks with no concrete overlay), bridge deck drainage systems and trail pilings.

6.Bridge protection worksrefers to items of bridge structures, including all or certain components, depending on bridge types, as follows: Anti-corrosion, anti-collision works and diversion facilities.

7.Railroad culvertrefers to a railway infrastructure work, e.g.Culvert bodies, culvert inlets or outlets and other energy dissipaters.

8.Railroad overpassrefers to a railway infrastructure work, including:Tunnel bodies, tunnel entrance or exit ways, walkways inside tunnels and two tunnel ends.

9.Railroad tunnelrefers to a railway infrastructure work, e.g.Tunnel entrance and exit ways, wing walls, tunnel inner, outer walls and coverings, refuge rooms, lighting systems, ventilators, signals, drainage ditches inside tunnels, intercepting ditches.

10.Railroad crossing workrefers to a railway and road work item, e.g. Rail tracks and roads within the boundaries of railroad crossing works; road protection systems, including: Rail tracks and roads within the boundaries of railroad crossing works; railroad crossing protection systems and railroad crossing surveillance systems. Depending on the form of the railroad crossing protection, a railroad crossing work comprises some or all of the following items: Guard rooms, lighting systems, markers, fixed fencings, signs and signaling systems; cable wires transmitting signals from road signal control cabinets installed at roads crossing railroads to connecting boxes or to traffic light control cabinets.

11.Architectural work at a train station arearefers to a railway work item, e.g.Train terminals, waiting rooms, station platforms, platform awnings, cross-platform interchanges, train commanding rooms, signaling and communications rooms, freight warehouses, storage yards, within-station roads, offices of state regulatory authorities at train station areas (if any), switch shanties.

12.Other auxiliary worksrefers to railway work items, e.g.Train station squares, roads entering train stations, walls and fences, ventilators, lighting systems, water supply and drainage systems, fire safety systems, environmental sanitation systems, facilities designed to serve disabled passengers, passenger information systems and other service and commercial facilities built according to planning schemes.

14.Railway information systemrefers to a railway work item, e.g.Bare conductor wires, communications cables and devices.

15.Railway signaling systemrefers to a railway work item, e.g.Entrance and exit signals, control devices, regulating devices, power supply units and other auxiliary equipment.

16.Depot workrefers to a railway work item. In addition to railroads, a depot may contain: Locomotive inspection rooms; workshops used for repairing, maintaining, adjusting and preparing locomotives and cars; power supply systems; lighting, water supply and drainage systems; fire safety systems and environmental sanitation systems.

17.Auxiliary works related to railway safety operationsrefers to facilities supporting railway safety operations, including: Road and railroad separating fences; collector roads; warning signs.

18.Maintenance of railway infrastructure assetsrefers to the monitoring, care and repair of minor defects and failure of facilities and built-in equipment which are carried out regularly and periodically in order to maintain the operational status of facilities, the normal operation and minimize damage and defects.

Chapter II

REQUIREMENTS CONCERNING QUALITY AND CRITERIA FOR SURVEILLANCE OF MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE ASSETS IN TERMS OF MAINTENANCE QUALITY

Article 4. Requirements for management and maintenance

1. Railway infrastructure assets shall be maintained according to the technical maintenance process and the method for costing of public services in the railway infrastructure maintenance sector, which have been approved by the Ministry of Transport. All railway infrastructure assets must conform to traffic and construction safety requirements during their operation and usage period.

2. Inputs and raw materials used in the maintenance of railway infrastructure assets must meet the following requirements:

a) Those defined in the approved method of costing of public services and products in the national railway infrastructure maintenance sector must be used;

b) A full amount of input equipment that meets engineering quality requirements must be installed;

c) Conformance to laws on commodity quality.

3. Railway infrastructure assets must be maintained in conformity with technical regulations, applied standards and other legislation on management of quality and maintenance of construction works.

4. The management of railway traffic safety corridors and the assurance of railway traffic safety must conform to laws on railway traffic safety corridors.

Article 5. Technical and maintenance quality requirements

1. Requirements applied to railroads

a) Railway superstructure:

The monitoring, inspection, care and measurement of technical parameters must be carried out in a regular and periodic manner; any damage must be corrected; damaged input equipment, parts and components of railway superstructure must be replaced;

The railway superstructure must be closely and stably connected in order to ensure safety during the operational period;

Railroad directions shall not be allowed to exceed the permissible deviation;

Height above the top of straight-track rail must be equal at all points. With respect to a curve-track rail, the height variation between the top of the outside rail and the top of the inside rail must be corresponding to the prescribed super-elevation value. Under difficult conditions, such height variation shall not be allowed to exceed the permissible limit;

The space between the inner sides of two rails shall vary, depending on gauge and horizontal alignment elements. Under difficult conditions, the deviation between two inner rail sides shall not be allowed to exceed the permissible limit;

As for rail tracks connected by joints, the joint gap must conform to the prescribed requirements of the railway superstructure and must ensure that the thermal expansion will not have adverse impacts on the stability of the railway superstructure;

The railroad sleepers and switch sleepers must be installed according to the layout and the size of each sleeper must vary depending on its type as prescribed in regulations in force;

Switches must ensure safety for train running in different directions at the permissible switch passing speed; switch components must be installed according to the prescribed switch layouts;

Track ballast must be tightly tamped to form track beds as prescribed by laws; track ballast beds must meet size, quality and water drainage requirements, and must not be affected by mud pumping, or covered by brush, weed or debris.

b) Track beds:

Width of the track bed and counter berm must meet the prescribed size requirements and must be well-drained. Track beds must avoid mud and gabion pumping and gabion conditions;

The steep gradient of a track bed and counter berm must be within the prescribed range. Each of them must be stable and must not be at risk of landslides, falling stones and rock avalanches threatening safety for train operations;

Track bed water drainage and intercepting ditches must be fully built, come in the correct size, have good drainage capacity and be designed to prevent water stagnation or erosion during their operational period;

The drainage capacity must be retained, depending on functions of each ditch and must contribute to the stability of a track bed.

c) Instructional signs and markers placed on railroads must be adequate, stable, firm, in position and must meet their specifications.

2. Requirements applied to railroad bridges:

a) Bearing structures of railroad bridges must be in position as designed and must normally work according to bearing layouts;

b) Steel bridge structure must be kept clean, must be painted to prevent it from rusting, must be coated and must prevent water from being trapped on it;

c) Structures made of reinforced concrete, concrete and gravels must meet requirements that the expansion of cracks is within the permissible limit and must be checked and monitored regularly; the surface of these structures must have good drainage capacity;

d) Bridge decks must be built with all required structures. As for bridges with pavements or pedestrian paths on both sides, these pavements and pedestrian paths must be built with an adequate amount of structures, must ensure smooth and safe walks and travels of pedestrians and vehicles;

dd) Bridge bearings and expansion joints must be in position, kept clean and ensure normal working conditions;

e) Abutments, piers, abutment cones and bridge protection facilities must be checked, monitored and serviced in a regular and periodic manner at prescribed intervals; technical parameters must be checked and minor damage before and after flooding seasons must be corrected;

g) As for bridges that nee fire prevention equipment, such equipment must be provided in full and must be made ready for use at all times;

h) As for railroad bridges over rivers providing ship clearances, inland waterway signals must be available in full, stable, firm, in position and meet prescribed specifications in accordance with the National technical regulations on inland waterway signaling systems;

i) As for railroad overpasses above roads with restricted head rooms, the sign "Maximum height" must be provided in full, installed stably, firmly and in place and must meet specifications according to the National technical regulations on road traffic signaling systems.

3. Water drainage culverts underneath railroads must provide smooth water flows without being stuck; construction works intended for reinforcement of inlet and outlet aprons and energy dissipaters must be in the normal working state.

4. Requirements applied to tunnels under railroad tracks:

a) The bearing structure of a tunnel must be subject to provisions laid down in point a of clause 5 of this Article;

b) Danger warning signs and warning signs installed at road sections in front of a tunnel must always be in full, must be installed in place and must meet predetermined specifications as per National technical regulations on road traffic signaling systems.

5. Requirements applied to railway tunnels:

a) The bearing structure of a railway tunnel must be operated according to the bearing layout and must be checked, monitored and maintained regularly and periodically at prescribed intervals; all technical indicators must be measured and minor damage occurring before and after stormy and flood seasons must be corrected;

b) Tunnel entrance and exit slopes must be stable, must be prevented from erosion, rolling or falling stones posing risk to train safety;

c) As for tunnels with refuge rooms, these rooms must be clean, well-ventilated and have none of obstacles inside;

d) As for tunnels with lighting systems, ventilators and fire prevention equipment, these systems and equipment must be in the normal working state as prescribed;

dd) Railroad tracks inside a railway tunnel must be checked, monitored regularly and technical indicators must be measured regularly to ensure that these tracks are within the permissible gauge range to prevent them from being too close to architectural works inside the tunnel;

e) Water drainage systems inside and outside tunnels and ditch beds must be always clean, must provide good drainage capacity for tunnels and railroad tracks inside tunnels.

6. Requirements applied to railroad crossing:

a) Railroad and road sections within the railroad crossing boundaries must meet corresponding technical specifications of railroads and roads built within the railroad crossing boundaries;

b) Railroad crossing protection systems must be installed in full, in position and must meet engineering specifications as well as must be under good working conditions;

c) As for railroad crossings equipped with lighting systems, lighting systems must be made available in full while the average illuminance and illuminance uniformity of lighting systems must be within the prescribed limits;

d) Railroad crossing guard rooms must conform to requirements for architectural works set out in clause 7 of this Article;

dd) Information and communications systems and signaling systems must comply with clause 8 of this Article;

e) As for railroad crossings connected to railway and road traffic signaling systems, cable wires transmitting signals from signal light control cabinets installed on roads at railroad crossings to connection boxes or to road traffic signal light control cabinets must ensure stable and accurate operations in the entire signal connection systems.

7. Requirements applied to architectural works:

a) Bearing structures of these works must be built as designed and must normally work according to bearing layouts;

b) Steel structures must be kept clean, must be painted to prevent them from rusting, must be coated and must prevent water from being trapped;

c) Girders, walls and other components made of reinforced concrete, concrete and bricks must be under normal working conditions, must provide good drainage capacity and must be checked and monitored frequently;

d) Wooden structures must come in correct size, must achieve stable quality standards, must be coated to prevent decay in accordance with regulations in force, and must take into consideration aesthetic harmony with the existing landscapes;

dd) Architectural works with canopies and awning facilities must be well-drained and must be prevented from fissures and leaks;

e) Foundations of these structures must be stable and must meet bearing requirements. Foundation surfaces must be leveled, flat, blistered, cracked or must be prevented from water stagnation;

g) Water supply, drainage and environmental sanitation systems must achieve quality standards and properly work; in particular, water supply and drainage systems must be prevented from obstruction and stagnation of water flow;

h) Lightning arrester, power supply and lighting systems must be fully provided, in the good working state and must be safe;

i) Ventilation, firefighting, emergency exit and telephone systems must be provided in full, must meet quality and safety standards;

k) As for those works that need instructional information systems, these systems must be provided in full, must deliver clear information at user s convenience in accordance with regulations in force.

8. Requirements applied to communication and signal transmission systems:

a) All communication and signal transmission facilities and equipment must be in the good working state, must not be affected by any warnings or obstacles, and if there are any deviation that arises, such deviation must be within the permissible limit;

b) All parts and components of these systems must be provided in full, must be of correct type, must be installed to meet designed specifications and follow technical instructions (if any), must be promptly supplemented and replaced in case of any damage or loss arising;

c) These systems must be checked regularly, kept clean and monitored to make sure that they work in an accurate and reliable manner, and all technical parameters are within the permissible range;

d) All or part of a system must carry clear numbers or symbols serving monitoring, administrative and maintenance purposes;

dd) As for metal parts or components that need to be painted as legally prescribed, they must be covered with finishes to prevent them from rusting;

e) Signals must be placed at locations where they may be read clearly and accurately and must not hinder vision in accordance with regulations in force;

g) Communication and sign posts must come in correct sizes, must have standard bearing structures and must ensure safety for other adjacent facilities;

h) Railway communication and signal systems must be designed for right uses and purposes, must ensure smooth and through train operations, safety of other facilities and the railway traffic.

9. Requirements applied to depots:

a) Locomotive inspection rooms must be provided in full and must be in the good working state to serve locomotive and car inspection needs;

b) As for depots with turntables, each turntable must be under good working conditions for use in carrying out the turning of locomotives;

c) Other facilities and equipment built in a depot, such as railroad tracks; workshops used for repairing, maintaining, adjusting and preparing locomotives and cars; power supply systems; lighting, water supply and drainage systems; fire safety systems and environmental sanitation systems; communication and signaling systems, shall be subject to provisions laid down in clause 1, clause 2, clause 7 and clause 8 of this Article.

10. Requirements applied to auxiliary facilities and equipment related to the railway safety:

a) Fences separating railroads and roads must be built in full, in position, kept clean, must be prevented from major damage, corrosion, must be tightened with a required amount of bolts, must be firm and must be laid on anti-erosion column footings;

b) Signs installed at railroad sections dangerous to the railway safety must be provided in full, in position, firm and must be clearly visible both in daytime and at night.

Article 6. Requirements for surveillance of management and maintenance operations

1. The surveillance of management and maintenance of national railway infrastructure assets in terms of maintenance quality (hereinafter referred to as maintenance surveillance) shall encompass the monitoring of preparation, conclusion and execution of maintenance contracts, acceptance testing of management and maintenance performance under contracts in effect.

2. The maintenance surveillance shall be carried out in a regular, periodic and spontaneous manner during the whole period from implementation to acceptance testing of completion of maintenance operations. The maintenance surveillance shall be carried out visually or via regular observation data (if any) or by dedicated inspection equipment where necessary.

3. The maintenance surveillance must be carried out according to the maintenance processes and plans for costing of public products and services in the railway infrastructure maintenance sector which have already been approved, applied standards, technical regulations, regulations on management and usage of building materials, engineering indications (if any), contracts already in effect and other relevant regulations regarding management of quality of construction works.

4. Bodies directly in charge of maintenance operations must operate maintenance quality management systems in accordance with existing regulations in force.

Article 7. Maintenance surveillance criteria

1. Surveillance of quality of management and maintenance operations

a) Compliance with the maintenance processes and plans for costing of public products and services in the railway infrastructure maintenance sector which have already been approved, applied standards, technical regulations, regulations on management and usage of building materials, engineering indications (if any), contracts already in effect and other relevant regulations regarding management of quality of construction works;

b) The quality of railway infrastructure after maintenance must meet provisions laid down in the approved maintenance processes, technical regulations and applied standards.

2. Surveillance of correct, full and strict implementation of maintenance tasks and activities according to the approved maintenance procedures.

3. Surveillance of contract-based maintenance progress.

4. Surveillance of compliance with laws on assurance of safety during the maintenance process.

Chapter III

PROVISIONS REGARDING ACCEPTANCE TESTING OF PERFORMANCE OF MANAGEMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE ASSETS IN TERMS OF MAINTENANCE QUALITY

Article 8. Provisions for acceptance testing of performance of management and maintenance operations

1. Office-work inspection and acceptance testing of the followings:

a) Preparation, update and archival of documentation on management and maintenance of railway infrastructure in accordance with laws;

b) Documents and records on monitoring, inspection, care, measurement of technical indicators, repair of minor damage, maintenance of spare parts, devices, components and details of railway infrastructure in a regular and periodic manner according to time limits prescribed in laws on management and maintenance of national railway infrastructure;

c) Documents and records on monitoring of locations posing danger to the railway safety, those on management of railroad crossings in accordance with laws on management and maintenance of national railway infrastructure and railroad crossings;

d) Legally-required periodic or ad-hoc reports.

2. Field-work inspection and acceptance testing shall be subject to provisions laid down in Article 5 and Appendices 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 herein.

Article 9. Criteria for acceptance testing of performance of management and maintenance operations

1. Acceptance testing of compliance with the maintenance processes and plans for costing of public products and services in the railway infrastructure maintenance sector which have already been approved, applied standards, technical regulations, regulations on management and usage of building materials, engineering indications (if any), contracts already in effect and other relevant regulations regarding management of quality of construction works.

2. The quality of railway infrastructure after maintenance must conform to technical requirements set out in Article 5 herein.

3. Implementation of tasks of preparation, update and archival of documentation on management of national railway infrastructure assets; documents and records on regular and periodic monitoring and inspection; documents and records on monitoring of locations causing impacts on the traffic safety for the purpose of giving updates on these locations in systems for overall management and monitoring of railway infrastructure in accordance with regulations in force.

4. Criteria for assessment of acceptance testing results:

a) The after-maintenance quality of national railway infrastructure assets shall be assessed at two levels, including“pass”and“fail”;

b) A railway infrastructure asset will be ranked"pass”if preparation, update and archival of documents and records are ranked"pass"and all of maintenance operations after the initial acceptance testing or the acceptance re-testing are assessed as"pass";

c) A railway infrastructure asset will be ranked"fail”if preparation, update and archival of documents and records are ranked"fail"and at least one maintenance operation after the initial acceptance testing or the acceptance re-testing is assessed as"fail";

d) Contents and methods of assessment of the quality of implementation of tasks of management and maintenance of railway infrastructure assets shall be subject to provisions laid down in Appendices 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 herein.

Article 10. Actions for items assessed as “fail” after inspection and acceptance testing

1. As for railway infrastructure items assessed as“fail”, within duration of 05 days, entities providing maintenance services shall be responsible for correcting defects in order to meet requirements for conduct of re-inspection, acceptance re-testing and re-assessment.

In particular, if main maintenance tasks, including: Gauging, cross level, lining and direction of rails and track, tamping of sleepers, connecting and fastening parts, information and signals used for maintenance of safety for train operations, are assessed as“fail”,within 1 day, entities providing maintenance services must correct errors in order to meet requirements for conduct of re-inspection, acceptance re-testing and re-assessment.

2. After the acceptance re-testing of work items formerly assessed as“fail”, if these items continue to be ranked“fail”, they shall be assessed as“fail”.

3. The acceptance testing of work items shall be carried out no more than twice. After 2 times of inspection and acceptance testing, if work items continue to be assessed as“fail”,they shall be assessed as“fail”and entities providing maintenance services must conduct the repeated maintenance.

4. If work items are assessed as“fail”,entities providing maintenance services shall be responsible for taking actions to maintain safety for train operations; concurrently, must carry out immediate correction of errors and must be held liable for the quality of maintenance of work items under their duties.

Article 11. Provisions for surveillance and acceptance testing of performance of inspection, monitoring and assessment of quality of railway infrastructure assets

The surveillance and acceptance testing of performance of inspection, monitoring and assessment of quality of railway infrastructure assets shall be subject to laws on management of quality and maintenance of construction works and other relevant legislation.

Chapter IV

PROVISIONS REGARDING REGIMES AND PROCEDURES FOR MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE ASSETS

Article 12. Maintenance regimes

Railway infrastructure assets shall be maintained under the following regime:

1. Railway infrastructure items shall be subject to regular, periodic, spontaneous, special and other inspections; inspection contents, time and responsibilities shall follow maintenance procedures approved by the Ministry of Transport.

2. The monitoring of railway infrastructure items must be carried out when there is any abnormal sign that may cause failure, and must be subject to laws on maintenance of construction works.

3. The assessment of quality of railway infrastructure items must be carried out on a periodic basis according to maintenance procedures approved by the Ministry of Transport and other relevant laws on maintenance of construction works.

4. The servicing of railway infrastructure items shall be carried out according to:

a) Plan for maintenance of national railway infrastructure, approved by the Ministry of Transport;

b) Procedures for maintenance of railway infrastructure, approved by the Ministry of Transport;

c) Plans for costing of public services and products in the railway infrastructure maintenance sector, approved by the Ministry of Transport;

d) Other relevant laws on maintenance of construction works.

Article 13. Maintenance procedures

1. All railway infrastructure assets must be maintained during their useful life according to maintenance procedures, approved by the Ministry of Transport.

2. In case where there have not yet been maintenance procedures for railway infrastructure construction parts or items, or such procedures in effect are no longer proper, entities tasked with managing assets shall be in charge of adjusting and supplementing maintenance procedures which are then submitted to the Ministry of Transport to seek its approval before bringing them into force.

3. Contents, responsibilities for preparation and approval and revision of maintenance procedures shall be subject to laws on management of quality and maintenance of construction works.

Chapter V

IMPLEMENTARY PROVISIONS

Article 14.Effect

This Circular takes effect on April 1, 2019.

Article 15. Implementation responsibilities

1. The Chief of the Ministry’s Office, the Ministry’s Chief Inspector, Directors of departments, Director of Directorate for Roads of Vietnam, Heads of entities, organizations or individuals concerned, shall be responsible for implementing this Circular.

2. In the course of implementation of this Circular, if there is any difficulty that may arise, organizations and persons should promptly send feedbacks to the Ministry of Transport to seek its decision on possible solutions./.

For the Minister

Deputy Minister

Nguyen Ngoc Dong