Page 6 - Report of the railway accidents investigated in 2023

Annual report 2023 that are binding in Estonia. There is no supervisory control of the ESIB’s investigative
activities. The ESIB has the right to involve experts and form committees to clarify circumstances that require specialist knowledge. The official conducting the investigation directs and supervises the experts and committees. Authorities involved in the safety investigation are obligated to provide necessary assistance to the ESIB within their competence. The official conducting the safety investigation must provide their certificate of employment while performing his work duties.
Independence given to the Safety Investigation Bureau has been specified by the additional conditions stipulated in Section 48 (2) of the Aviation Act. The Director of the Safety Investigation Bureau is appointed and relieved of its duties by the Government of the Republic on the recommendation of the relevant minister. The appointment of the heads of other structural units of the Ministry takes place within the Ministry. The employees of the ESIB are appointed and relieved of their duties by the Director of the ESIB who also concludes and terminates the employment contracts with them. In addition, the budget of the Safety Investigation Bureau is independent and has been approved by the Parliament – the Riigikogu of the Republic of Estonia and which in the 2023 State Budget Act was provided with item code 20SE070004. Safety investigations of all modes of transport at the Safety Investigation Bureau are conducted according to the principles that are legally corresponding to sector-specific laws and regulations.
Section 48 of the Railways Act “Cases affecting railway safety” defines the concept of a case affecting railway safety. Cases affecting railway safety are serious accident, accident, and incident. All definitions are identical to those presented in Section 3 of the Directive 2016/798. This section establishes a requirement that the driver involved in a serious accident or accident is prohibited from consuming alcohol, narcotic, psychotropic or psychotoxic substances immediately after the occurrence. The railway infrastructure company or owner is obliged to eliminate the consequences of the occurrence and restore railway traffic as soon as possible. At the same time, he must check the efficiency of the restoration work and if necessary, implement measures to improve organisation of the work. If necessary, the local government and the state must provide assistance to the restoration. The right of the supervisory authority to process the relevance of the reasons for the time taken to restore railway traffic after a traffic interruption lasting more than 12 hours is also stipulated. Reference has been made to the obligation of the railway transport company to provide victim assistance in accordance with Regulation No. 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
The railway infrastructure managers or other railway infrastructure owners and railway undertakings, as well as in the case of having been notified in the process of surveillance activities, the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority, are obliged to immediately notify the Safety Investigation Bureau of an occurrence affecting railway safety. The notification is made via means of public communication.
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