France shares experience in railway investment and exploitation
Báo Giao thông•14/01/2025
Today (January 14), the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport, in collaboration with the French Development Agency (AFD) and the French National Railways Corporation (SNCF), organized a workshop to share experiences in the railway sector in France. Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Danh Huy chaired the workshop.
Sharing experience in selecting technology and exploiting transport This is a practical and meaningful start within the framework of implementing the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the field of Transport between the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam and the French Development Agency. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed in October 2024 during the state visit of General Secretary To Lam to the Republic of France, aiming to provide a coordination mechanism, facilitate and enhance cooperation between the parties in the field of transport, in which the field of railway transport is one of the main pillars of cooperation between the two sides.
Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Danh Huy emphasized that the knowledge and experience in railway investment and development of French railways will be very useful for Vietnam's railways (Photo: Ta Hai).
Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Minister Nguyen Danh Huy emphasized the increasingly developing cooperative relationship between Vietnam and France in the field of transport. In particular, the Memorandum of Understanding is a new step forward, promoting cooperation between the two sides. "In the railway sector in particular, the experience in investment and development of railways in France, Europe and the world shared by the French National Railways Group and the French Development Agency is extremely useful. Through this, Vietnamese state management agencies, consulting units, enterprises and universities will learn, refer to and apply in practice in Vietnam," Deputy Minister Huy said, expressing his hope that the two sides will continue to have useful cooperation activities such as this workshop. On the SNCF side, Mr. Diego Diaz, Director of the International Department of the French National Railways Group (SNCF), and Chairman of its subsidiary SNCF International, expressed that SNCF was honored to share its experience with Vietnam's railways, demonstrating the trust of the Vietnamese Government and the Ministry of Transport in SNCF.
Mr. Diego Diaz, Director of the International Department of the French National Railways Corporation (SNCF), expressed his honor to share his experience in railway development with Vietnam (Photo: Ta Hai).
"The railway sector is not only our profession but also our passion. We hope that with our sharing, we will come up with a solution for safe passenger transport, while making train travel a remarkable life experience. From there, we will develop rail transport. Thereby contributing significantly to the goal of reducing carbon emissions as well as strengthening the cooperative relationship between the two sides," Mr. Diego Diaz emphasized. At the workshop, which lasted about 1.5 days, SNCF shared 3 topics: "Region, population and factors determining the provision of transport services and business strategies"; "Effective management in passenger and freight transport operations"; "Basic principles of safety and technology selection". Comprehensive consideration before choosing to invest in railways Sharing experience in investing and developing railways in France as well as other developed countries, Mr. Pierre Messulam, former Director of SNCF, Founding Chairman of Sémaphore SAS Consulting Company emphasized that railways are a type of ground transport that occupies an area 5 times smaller than roads and consumes the least energy, saving 5-10 times more than other modes of transport.
Mr. Pierre Messulam, former Director of SNCF, shares about factors to consider when investing in railways (Photo: Ta Hai).
When considering railway investment cases, it can be seen that with passenger transport: High-speed investment is recommended when wanting to accelerate trade activities between major economic centers while limiting the use of airplanes and wanting to develop tourism; Inter-provincial transport when wanting to develop connections between major cities 50km to 250km apart and limiting road traffic; Mass transit when needing to transport from 100,000 to 2,000,000 passengers/day on a single route for the needs from residence/work, from residence/school and training; Regional transport when needing to serve semi-urban or rural areas with large-scale transport in terms of the number of passengers to be transported. For freight transport, railways are an irreplaceable mode of transport for all types of goods with large tonnage that waterways cannot handle and all types of goods with very large volumes such as: Solid bulk goods such as minerals, coal, construction materials, agricultural products (cereals/rice, fertilizers); Liquid bulk goods such as oil, gas and chemical products; Containers. However, according to Mr. Pierre Messulam, investment in new railway lines needs to be based on determining demand, based on demographic, geographical and climatic characteristics. In which, factors such as population, population density, population distribution are very important, along with factors such as economic development, education and travel distance, ticket prices greatly affect investment efficiency. Factors such as geography, climate, especially environmental protection, sustainability will greatly affect technical, technological and safety factors, thereby affecting costs. In particular, it is necessary to pay attention to the issue of connecting high-speed railways with other modes of transport, with traditional railways, urban railways in collecting and clearing passengers and goods. All of these issues are important factors when choosing and determining technology for a future railway line. According to the experience sharing program, serving the development of Vietnam's railway, after the workshop, the French delegation continued to work with Vietnamese agencies and enterprises on the North-South High-Speed Railway Project; on the current status of Vietnam's railway infrastructure system and railway business organization; exchanging plans for implementing the technical support project for the Hanoi - Hai Phong railway line...
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