Urgently complete 2 urban railway development projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City

On the afternoon of September 24, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha chaired the third meeting of the Working Group assisting the Steering Committee to direct the progress of urban railway projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha requested to urgently complete two urban railway development projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Danh Huy said that in terms of technical criteria, the urban railway network in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City has a gauge of 1,435mm, double track. Design speed is 80-160km/h; overhead power supply system or third rail power supply; automatic train operation; vehicles use EMU distributed power trains.

It is expected that by 2035, the two cities will complete the urban railway lines according to the current planning, with a total length of about 580km; by 2045, about 369.1km will be completed (Hanoi will add about 200.7km, Ho Chi Minh City will add about 168.4km); by 2060, about 158.66km will be completed in Ho Chi Minh City. The cities strive for urban railways to account for 30-35% of the public passenger transport market share by 2035, and increase to 55-70% after 2035.

Leaders of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City said that the urban railway lines have been initially studied, preparing underground space planning, land funds, calculating urban development areas, trade, services along the route (TOD), connecting with the national railway line as well as major traffic hubs... Immediately after the project to develop the urban railway system in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is approved by competent authorities, the two localities will continue to develop pre-feasibility studies, detailed planning, prepare investment projects according to the roadmap; especially proposing a number of specific mechanisms and groups of policies.

It is expected that the capital structure for investing in the urban railway system will be local budgets, loans, central budget support and other legal sources. At the same time, private investors will be called upon to invest in the construction of urban railway lines, stations combined with commercial centers and means of exploitation.

At the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha highly appreciated the content of the draft of the two urban railway development projects of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, which were carefully, meticulously and methodically prepared, both unified and having an appropriate approach and implementation phases suitable to the characteristics of each locality.

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to continue to closely coordinate with the Ministry of Transport, fully absorb the opinions of relevant ministries and branches, and urgently complete the two projects to report to the Politburo. The focus is on clarifying the context and implementation status of urban railway projects in each city; supplementing underground space planning for urban railways in Ho Chi Minh City; mobilizing investment capital; determining the basis for determining technical and economic norms; selecting technology and autonomy in equipment manufacturing, system management and operation models, training human resources, etc.

In addition to the existing specific mechanisms and policies, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City need to specifically propose groups of common mechanisms and policies necessary for both localities to develop urban railways; mechanisms for mobilizing and allocating medium-term public investment capital from the central and local budgets and other capital sources; the level of safety when mobilizing loans for macroeconomic stability, etc.

PHAN THAO

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/khan-truong-hoan-thien-2-de-an-phat-trien-duong-sat-do-thi-tai-ha-noi-tphcm-post760497.html