Inspection Team Discovers Passenger Vehicles Illegally Carrying Dangerous Materials During Unannounced Inspections in Shaanxi

During the Spring Festival travel rush, the Transportation Ministry Inspection and Guidance Team (referred to as the Inspection and Guidance Team) went to Shaanxi to carry out major risk hidden danger investigation and rectification work for the 2026 Spring Festival transportation safety production. They visited Xi’an and Hanzhong, inspecting 10 counties (districts), conducting both overt and covert inspections. They checked and guided 28 enterprises and units, discovering 46 issues and hidden dangers, including 1 major hidden danger and 2 prominent problems.

During an inspection at Shaanxi Tourism Automobile Co., Ltd., the team found that a passenger vehicle, “Shan ADT281,” was carrying butane gas cylinders in the luggage compartment, which are explicitly listed as prohibited items for road passenger transport. The cylinder was unused, with high internal pressure, and vehicle bumps could loosen the valve or damage the cylinder, leading to gas leaks. In a sealed luggage compartment, butane gas could accumulate and, if there is an electrical fault or static electricity, could cause an explosion or fire, posing serious risks to drivers, passengers, and property. According to Article 4, Paragraph 2 of the “Standards for Major Accident Hidden Danger Identification in Road Transport and Urban Passenger Transport Enterprises (Trial),” a road passenger transport enterprise that illegally transports or carries dangerous goods should be considered to have a major hidden danger.

The Inspection and Guidance Team also identified prominent issues in road transportation and construction. For example, at Hanzhong Passenger Transport Hub, the vehicle “Shan F67508” had a damaged emergency escape window on the rear roof and a missing fire extinguisher on the driver’s side, yet the vehicle inspection report listed the vehicle’s condition as normal. The Yang County Xushui Bridge reconstruction project on National Highway 108 had issues such as insufficient steel pipe supports at the connection between the roadbed and main bridge according to design requirements, and steel sheet pile enclosures at the abutments not built as specified.

Furthermore, the team found that some supervisory departments did not conduct thorough risk hidden danger investigations. The Hantai District Transportation Bureau in Hanzhong lacked clear records of local enterprises, and safety inspections were not comprehensive; the information entered into systems did not match the summary records. In highway management, issues included inconsistent technical condition ratings in the maintenance report for the Shaheying Grand Bridge on National Highway 108, unclear management responsibilities, and multiple cracks and gaps in the supports that had not been repaired.

Experts from the Inspection and Guidance Team stated that these problems indicate that enterprises and supervisory departments have not thoroughly or effectively carried out risk hidden danger investigations and rectifications, and that safety responsibilities are not fully implemented, revealing weak links in safety management. The team has handed over the list of hidden dangers to provincial management authorities and urged all units and relevant departments to fully implement deployment requirements, strengthen the main responsibility for safety production, learn from issues, make immediate corrections, and continuously deepen the entire process of risk hidden danger investigation and rectification.

Source: China Transportation News

Editor: Shen Lei