Conditions for Louis Vuitton to organize luxury antique train on Hanoi route

At a recent working session with Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang, French Ambassador to Vietnam Olivier Brochet said that some famous French fashion brands, including Louis Vuitton, want to organize a luxury antique train between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to serve tourists.

These are antique train cars, which have been in operation for 30 years or more, and will be imported into Vietnam by Louis Vuitton. Therefore, Ambassador Olivier Brochet proposed that the Ministry of Transport allow exceptions to current regulations so that the train cars can run on Vietnam's railways.

Expressing his support and high agreement with this idea, Minister Nguyen Van Thang suggested that the French side should clarify what exceptions are needed when using old train cars, from which the two sides would discuss and determine which agency has the authority to submit to that agency for resolution, including the Ministry of Transport. In case of exceeding the authority, the Ministry of Transport will have to submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision.

According to Lonely Planet, the Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City railway is one of the most popular railway routes in Southeast Asia.

On the afternoon of November 24, speaking with VietNamNet reporters, a representative of the Vietnam Railways Department also expressed support and high agreement with the French side organizing a luxury antique train between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to serve tourists.

However, a representative of the Railway Department said that according to Vietnamese law, to conduct railway transport business on national railways, enterprises need to meet a number of conditions.

Firstly, regarding the business conditions stipulated in Article 21, Decree No. 65/2018/ND-CP, railway transport business enterprises must meet the following conditions:

There is a department in charge of railway transport safety.

There must be at least 1 person in charge of safety work with a university degree in railway transport and at least 3 years of direct experience in railway transport management and operation.

The person assigned to be primarily responsible for technical management of transport operations must have a university degree and at least 3 years of experience working in railway transport operations.

Second, the train must meet the age limit and conditions for importing railway vehicles. This issue is specifically regulated in Article 18 of Decree No. 65:

Not more than 40 years for locomotives and passenger cars running on main lines of national railways, dedicated railways, and urban railways.

Not more than 45 years for freight cars running on main railway lines of national railways and specialized railways.

For imported used railway vehicles, only used vehicles that are no more than 10 years old can be imported, for passenger cars, locomotives, urban railway cars, and no more than 15 years old can be imported, for freight cars.

The Railway Department added that according to Vietnamese law, the organization and operation of trains on national railways must be agreed upon between national railway infrastructure businesses and railway transport businesses.

Accordingly, the unit wishing to organize the operation of the luxury antique train between Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City needs to have an agreement with the Vietnam Railway Corporation. This needs to be approved through contracts for the provision of railway traffic management services and locomotive traction to be able to organize the operation of the train on the national railway.

“Therefore, to realize the above proposal, the French Ambassador should specifically state what are the exceptional conditions when using old trains? On that basis, the two sides should discuss and clearly determine the authority of which agency needs to resolve the issue, and then report to the competent authorities for consideration and decision,” informed a representative of the Vietnam Railway Authority.

It is known that in the list of 8 most beautiful railway routes in the world recently voted by travel guide Lonely Planet, Vietnam's Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City railway route ranked first.

According to Lonely Planet, the 1,730km Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City railway is one of the most popular railway routes in Southeast Asia.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/dieu-kien-de-louis-vuitton-to-chuc-doan-tau-co-hang-sang-tuyen-ha-noi-tp-hcm-2218897.html