Proposal for class I seaports to have railway connections

According to the Ministry of Transport, this policy aims to strengthen railway connections with other modes of transport to promote the strengths of railway transport in transporting large volumes of goods and passengers over medium to long distances.

Adjust regulations on some types of railway-road intersections and construction of essential works within land reserved for railways to suit reality.

Submitting to the Government the dossier proposing to build the Law on Railways (amended), the Ministry of Transport proposed to add regulations that international airports with a capacity of 30 million passengers/year or more and type I seaports must have railway connections (Photo: illustration).

Specifically, the Ministry of Transport proposed to supplement regulations that international airports with a capacity of 30 million passengers/year or more, special seaports and type I seaports must have railway connections (for provinces/cities with national railways passing through the area); encourage and facilitate railway connections with dry ports, inland waterway ports, and major cargo hubs.

When investing and constructing projects, land must be reserved for railway connection; organizations and individuals investing in railway connection enjoy preferential policies and support in the railway sector such as exemption from land rent for the land area for construction of railway connection infrastructure.

At the same time, it is necessary to supplement the regulation that in urban areas of type I or higher, if there is a national railway passing through, the passenger station must be located in the central area for the convenience of passengers, avoiding the need for transfers. In case the main station (for passenger stations) of the national railway is located outside the urban center, the urban railway connecting from the central station to the main station must accommodate national passenger trains running on the same urban railway infrastructure; the central urban station must arrange a pick-up and drop-off area for national passenger trains.

Supplementing regulations on national central stations and hub stations (passenger stations) must connect with urban passenger transport modes to collect and release passengers.

The Ministry of Transport also proposed to amend regulations on investment in intersections between railways and roads in the following direction: For newly built railway lines (except for trams running on the ground), they must intersect at different levels with roads; a system of service roads and fences must be built outside the railway safety corridor.

For existing railway lines, additional cases are allowed to build at-grade intersections and construct some essential works within the land reserved for railways.

Regarding the reason for proposing this policy, the Ministry of Transport said that the 2017 Railway Law lacks regulations binding railway connections with seaports, airports, and economic zones; at the same time, urban development planning is not synchronized with railway development planning, leading to railways not being able to connect directly with traffic hubs, having to perform transit, increasing transportation costs. On the other hand, many investors do not reserve land for railway connections during the project investment process.

According to the Ministry of Transport, international experience shows that national railway passenger stations are located in the central area of ​​the city, so that passengers can go directly from the center to the suburbs without having to change trains and there is no phenomenon of accumulation and congestion of a large number of passengers at the transfer stations between urban railways and national railways. This is a very effective solution to solve the current urban traffic problem.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/de-xuat-cang-bien-loai-i-phai-co-ket-noi-duong-sat-192240118170717207.htm