Court addresses railroad injuries and compensation
- Source: Global Times
- [01:27 March 17 2010]
- Comments
By Deng Jingyin
People who suffer injuries while crossing unsecured railroad tracks are eligible for compensation from railway transport companies, the Supreme People's Court said in a paper Tuesday.
In some cases, compensation could be as high as 80 percent.
But the document did not elaborate how to calculate the compensation and it was not clear what evidence victims would be required to show for compensation claim.
The document said if a victim gets injured through personal fault, the liability of the railway transport enterprises would be lowered depending on the injury.
However, if railway enterprises failed to provide proper security and warnings to discourage trespassing, compensation could reach 80 percent.
The railway transport enterprises are exempted from liability when the victim deliberately causes harm to him or herself, the document said.
To evaluate the victim's fault, the court will consider how the accident happened and other environmental circumstances.
If the land used by farmers is split by a railroad, victims will not be held personally responsible if they were crossing it while they were injured.
The document also touched on juveniles who are often injured on railroads.
It said that even if the railway transport enterprises complies with all rules, they should be held 40 to 50 percent responsible if a victim is under 18 years old.
"This explanation is based on a former regulation, but further defines compensation responsibility. For example, how to compensate people who cross the rail by climbing over the protective wall is now fully addressed," Sun Shenghong, a lawyer from Xihai Law Firm in Qinghai Province, told the Global Times Tuesday.
Sun said the railway departments would have to take on more responsibility for injured victims than before.
"The transport enterprises have always refused to compensate people due to willful negligence, but now they cannot escape from this duty," he said.
The railway transport courts will handle compensation disputes.
Courts sometimes face difficulties dealing with disputes between victims and railway departments because of the vague definition pertaining to their responsibility.
Last Thursday, a van overturned after it collided with a train in Kaifeng in Henan Province, without any fatalities.
There was no warning sign at the junction to alert the public, but the railway department claimed they could not be held responsible for the accident be-cause the local government did not ask for their views before building the road that crossed the railway.
The new policy came while the nation's railway network booming.
The country's high-speed railway hit 6,552 kilometers, ranking the No.1 in the world. More than 10,000 kilometers of high-speed railways are under construction.
The length of the country's high-speed railway will reach 120,000 kilometers by 2020, according to the Ministry of Railways.
