Railway industry prioritizes developing manufacturing industry

Which railway industrial products are proposed to be prioritized for development?

In the Draft Law on Railways (amended), the Ministry of Transport proposed to add provisions on railway industrial products that are prioritized for development. Specifically, the railway industry is defined as including: Manufacturing, assembling, repairing, and converting railway vehicles; manufacturing accessories, spare parts, materials, and specialized equipment for railways.

The Ministry of Transport proposed regulations that define railway industrial products as high-tech, giving priority to investment and development. Photo: ST

In fact, in the past, the State's investment in the development of the railway industry was very limited. Therefore, the production technology chain was mainly invested by railway industry enterprises themselves, so it was still fragmented and small, focusing on products with low technology content such as: sleeper production, locomotive assembly, car frame production...

Meanwhile, according to current regulations, investment in railway projects must be carried out under domestic and international competitive bidding mechanisms. This makes it difficult for Vietnamese enterprises to participate in the production and supply chain of railway equipment, especially modern railway industrial products, because they cannot compete with foreign enterprises that already have technology and experience.

In order to gradually become self-sufficient in researching and producing some types of key materials and equipment such as rails, switches, electrical signal information equipment, and railway vehicles, it is necessary to have a specific mechanism to create conditions for domestic enterprises to be ordered by the State to carry out some key and strategic railway industry development tasks, as a premise for railway industry development.

In a recent report by the Ministry of Transport, Vietnam strives to complete investment in the entire North-South high-speed railway by 2035. This project will not only create a boost for socio-economic development but also open up opportunities to receive, transfer, master technology and develop the railway industry; create breakthroughs in the mechanical, manufacturing, and automation industries...

“In addition to mastering and mastering all operations and maintenance work and gradually producing some components and spare parts for high-speed railways and urban railways, the high-speed railway project will be an unbeatable opportunity for the Vietnamese mechanical industry to make a strong transformation,” the report stated.

Driving force for development of mechanical and manufacturing industry

At a working session on the implementation of the high-speed railway project on the North-South axis on September 25, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha emphasized the need to carefully select technology, management and operation models to build a complete and autonomous railway industry and services.

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Transport, the Vietnam Railway Authority, the Vietnam Railway Corporation, and a number of large enterprises to develop and implement a roadmap for receiving, transferring, mastering technology, and developing the railway industry from equipment production, operation, and management; ensuring synchronization and unity in technology, regulations, and standards.

" Taking the development of high-speed railways, urban railways, and Vietnam's railways in general as a boost for the mechanical, manufacturing, automation, and other industries serving the national economy and people's livelihoods ," Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha emphasized.

The Department of Industry (Ministry of Industry and Trade) also acknowledged that the high-speed railway project in Vietnam will become a key point in the country's transport infrastructure development strategy, creating a breakthrough in the mechanical, manufacturing, and automation industries...

Regarding the steel industry, Mr. Tran Dinh Long, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hoa Phat Group, affirmed that Hoa Phat Group has enough capacity to produce steel for high-speed railways and is ready to participate in bidding to supply steel for this project. The representative of Vietnam Railway Corporation stated that Vietnam must gradually research, gradually transfer, and gradually take over technology. At the same time, the enterprises themselves must also proactively propose preferential policies to form and develop an industrial mechanical industry, an industrial mechanical industry of railways.

Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Mechanical Enterprises (VAMI), Dr. Nguyen Chi Sang also said that Vietnam must take the lead in the construction and development of the railway system. The mastery here should not be rigidly 100% mastery but should have a localization rate and appropriate technology transfer. This not only brings autonomy in project construction but also significantly reduces costs during the construction, maintenance and development of the country's industry.

Mr. Sang pointed out that Vietnam has the ability to master the items in the development of the railway system such as design consultancy can undertake 50% in the first 3 projects and 80% in the following projects; project management: 70% in the first 2 projects and 90% in the following projects; construction items: 80% in the first project and 95% in the following projects; equipment system: 40% for the first two projects and 50-60% for the following projects; operation and maintenance: 100% with technology transfer from suppliers according to equipment and technology supply contracts...

VAMI recommends immediate actions, specifically building a system of standards for the railway industry; building a comprehensive, unified roadmap to localize the railway system: high-speed railway, national railway and urban railway; building and promulgating solutions for Vietnamese enterprises to participate in the Railway System Development Program...

In the investment project for the North-South high-speed railway, according to calculations, the means and equipment of the project alone have reached 34.1 billion USD. If technology is transferred, this will be a very large and attractive market for businesses with strengths in locomotive production, as they have not had the opportunity to demonstrate themselves for many years. And it is also an opportunity to spread and create momentum to promote the development of the mechanical engineering industry, which is considered the backbone of the economy.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/nganh-duong-sat-uu-tien-phat-trien-cong-nghiep-che-tao-352886.html