HO CHI MINH CITY, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- A train departing from Vietnam's Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City derailed on Thursday morning in southern Dong Nai province, causing no casualties but paralyzing the country's north-south railway for more than four hours, announced the Vietnam Railways Corporation.
Two compartments of the 13-compartment TN7 train derailed in Bien Hoa city, which badly damaged 300 meters of rails, and forced over 700 passengers to use automobiles to continue their journey to Ho Chi Minh City.
The state-owned corporation has recently installed surveillance cameras at locomotives of trains to timely give warnings when they approach rail sections which cross roads.
Vietnam's railway sector transported 500,000 passengers in January, posting a year-on-year decline of 7.5 percent, and 500,000 tons of cargoes, down 6 percent, according to the General Statistics Office.
