Vietnam Railways Department proposed to invest 19,000 billion VND to renovate the railway tunnel in Hai Van Pass area and relocate Da Nang station, increasing throughput capacity and facilitating transportation.
Trains have to continuously wait for a "slot" to pass the pass. Having just experienced the train through Hai Van Pass, the most beautiful railway route in Vietnam according to many world travel websites, Ms. Mai Trang (Cau Dien, Hanoi) shared: "The train passing through here is very beautiful. However, you have to stop and wait too long to get up the pass." 
Mr. Huynh The Son, Deputy Head of Business Department - Hanoi Railway Transport Joint Stock Company said: Hai Van Pass is the most congested point on the North - South route, greatly affecting transport operations. "We are having a headache about how to arrange a train to connect the Central heritage between Hue and Da Nang. The train is attracting a lot of passengers. However, the capacity through Hai Van Pass is limited," said Mr. Son, adding that the speed of the train through the pass is slow, only about 30km/h, and the number of pairs of trains that can pass through the pass in a day/night is not much. The limited length of the train when passing through the pass is also a bottleneck. While the capacity of the entire route allows the train to pull up to 15-16 passenger cars, at Hai Van Nam station, the length of the station track only allows the train to pull a maximum of 14 cars. This also means that even if the demand for passengers increases, more cars cannot be added. "Last summer, the demand for tourists from the northern provinces to Da Nang was very high. We wanted to run more trains but could not arrange slots through Hai Van Pass. Trains from the north to Hue, trains from the south to Da Nang will have to wait for each other to pass the pass. Therefore, the journey time will be extended by 3-4 hours," said Mr. Son. Congestion on the North-South route Talking to reporters of Giao thong Newspaper, Mr. Tran Anh Tuan, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Railways Corporation, said that there are 6 tunnels on Hai Van Pass. The tunnel is on the pass, so if an incident occurs, there will be no road vehicles to access and handle it quickly. 
A representative of the Vietnam Railway Authority said that the Hai Van Pass area is more than 25km long, with rugged terrain and high mountains. Of the 6 tunnels on the pass, 3 were repaired in 2006 under a project funded by the French Government. However, at that time, the main purpose was to replace the old weathered tunnel shell and expand the tunnel size. The remaining three tunnels have not been repaired, posing many potential safety risks. These tunnels have also been included in the list of tunnels that need reinforcement and renovation of weak tunnels on the North-South route. According to PV's investigation, the Vietnam Railway Authority has just proposed a project to renovate the railway in the Hai Van Pass area and relocate Da Nang station with a total estimated investment of 19,000 billion VND, from medium-term public investment capital for the period 2026-2031. Accordingly, a new Hai Van tunnel will be built and the entire railway in the Da Nang area will be relocated out of the city center according to the plan. Mr. Tran Thien Canh, Director of the Vietnam Railway Authority, said that the research on building a new railway tunnel and upgrading the railway route through Hai Van Pass has been carried out since 2000. In fact, this is one of the four infrastructure bottlenecks on the North-South route that needs to be improved to increase capacity and facilitate transportation. The Ministry of Transport has assigned the Railway Project Management Board to conduct a pre-feasibility study on the Hai Van Pass railway renovation project and to carry out investment preparation work in the medium-term public investment plan for the period 2021-2025. This study was then temporarily suspended to wait for synchronization with the high-speed railway project, clarifying the option of sharing or separate routes between the existing railway and the high-speed railway. Renovating a long tunnel through the mountain According to Mr. Canh, up to now, the high-speed railway has determined the route, going west, parallel to the expressway, not overlapping in location or sharing a tunnel with the existing railway. 
Therefore, the Vietnam Railway Authority proposed to study and continue investing in the project to renovate the railway through the pass, including building a new tunnel because on the North-South corridor, the Ministry of Transport has determined to continue exploiting the existing railway line, in addition to investing and exploiting the high-speed railway. Initial research shows that the new tunnel will be located close to the current Hai Van road tunnel. This means that instead of the railway being halfway up the pass with many tunnels as it is now, only one tunnel is needed at the foot of the pass and drilled through the mountain from the North bank to the South bank with a tunnel length of about 6km. The tunnel will be a single-track railway, not a double-track because the cost is too high. To prevent risks when operating trains, there will be a shelter tunnel. "Along with the tunnel renovation and the railway line improvement through the pass, Da Nang station will be moved from the inner city to Kim Lien station area, from here trains can run straight on the line, instead of having to branch into the city as they do now. At Kim Lien station area, there will be a railway branch to Lien Chieu seaport and a railway branch to the West connecting to the high-speed railway", said Mr. Canh. Supporting the construction of a new railway tunnel through Hai Van pass, Mr. Tran Anh Tuan said: "If the new Hai Van railway tunnel can be built, both passenger and freight trains can increase speed, shortening travel time".
Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/can-19000-ty-xay-moi-ham-hai-van-di-doi-ga-da-nang-192240917150418253.htmPassenger train through Hai Van pass, complex terrain.
If this new tunnel project is implemented, the capacity through the Hai Van Pass area will increase to 25 pairs of trains/day and night. Although the number of pairs of trains will not increase much, it will solve the problem of time. The current time for trains to pass the pass is more than an hour, after the tunnel is built, it will only take a few dozen minutes. Trains running between Hue and Da Nang will only take more than an hour, as it currently takes about 2.5-3 hours.
Mr. Tran Thien Canh, Director of Vietnam Railway Authority
Container ship through Hai Van Pass.
Vietnam Railway Corporation repairs and reinforces tunnel 14 on Hai Van pass to ensure train safety. Photo: Vinh Nhan.
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