On June 25, the Urumqi Railway Transport Procuratorate publicly announced the delivery of prosecutorial recommendations to an education bureau with supervisory responsibilities regarding a public interest litigation case in which a minor climbed over a railway guardrail and affected railway driving safety.
In April this year, two primary school students from a primary school in Sayibak District, Urumqi climbed over the railway protective net near Urumqi Railway Station, entered the railway line to play, and placed four ballast stones on the railway track. This behavior caused an emergency stop for the high-speed train for 30 minutes and a normal-speed train for 31 minutes. It also affected 4 other passenger trains and almost caused the high-speed train to derail and roll over.
After the incident, an in-depth investigation by the Urumqi Railway Transport Procuratorate found that such incidents reflected many problems: insufficient safety education in schools, failure to popularize railway safety knowledge, hazards, and relevant laws and regulations, resulting in weak railway safety awareness among minors; loopholes in the coordinated supervision of railway safety between schools, families, and society, and the failure to form effective regulatory synergies.
"The minor's behavior of placing multiple ballast stones on the high-speed rail after falling into the line posed a major hidden danger to railway traffic safety, and could easily lead to serious accidents such as emergency braking, delays or even derailment of the train, with disastrous consequences," said Zuo Feng, prosecutor of the Second Prosecution Department of the Urumqi Railway Transport Procuratorate.
Based on the above situation, the Urumqi Railway Transport Procuratorate issued procuratorial recommendations to an education bureau in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, recommending that it urge schools in its jurisdiction to incorporate railway safety knowledge into the daily safety education curriculum system, regularly carry out special education activities, and enhance railway safety awareness and self-protection capabilities. At the same time, it is recommended to build a long-term communication and collaboration mechanism for multi-unit collaboration to form a good situation of joint efforts and joint management in the safety supervision of minors.
On the same day, the relevant person in charge of an education bureau signed on-site to receive the inspection recommendations, expressing great importance and taking immediate action to fully implement the requirements of the inspection recommendations, formulate a systematic railway safety education plan, clarify the education objectives, content, methods and time arrangements, and ensure the normalization and institutionalization of railway safety education.
Representatives from the on-site railway and public security departments put forward specific measures on how to prevent and eliminate safety hazards, and the people's supervisors put forward opinions and suggestions on post-processing measures.
"Our hospital will continue to follow up on the implementation of procuratorial recommendations, strengthen communication and cooperation with the education department and relevant units, and form a joint force to supervise and inspect the railway safety education carried out in schools, the improvement of protective facilities, and the operation of collaborative supervision mechanisms to ensure that the procuratorial recommendations are implemented and effectively protect the life safety of minors and railway traffic safety," said Liu Shengbiao, Chief Prosecutor of the Urumqi Railway Transport Procuratorate.