Amending the law, creating leverage for railway development

Supplementing policies for developing urban railways and high-speed railways

Today (September 15), the Ministry of Transport held a workshop to collect opinions on policy contents for the dossier proposing the construction of the Railway Law (amended).

The conference was held in a combination of in-person and online formats with the participation of ministries, branches, businesses and 34 connecting points in 34 provinces and cities with railways passing through.

At the workshop, delegates proposed adding specific railway development policies to the dossier of the Railway Law (amended).

According to Deputy Director of Vietnam Railway Authority Nguyen Huy Hien, the Railway Law, which took effect from July 1, 2018, has created an important legal framework for the management, investment, and exploitation of railway infrastructure (KCHTĐS) and railway transport business in the direction of clearly distinguishing between State management and business, encouraging economic sectors to participate in investment in developing KCHTĐS and railway transport business, ensuring healthy and equal competition among economic sectors...

However, after 5 years, there are some railway policies that are not suitable for the practical situation and have encountered many difficulties and obstacles in implementation. This is one of the reasons leading to the decreasing market share of railway transport, and preferential policies for railway development are almost impossible to implement.

"The Ministry of Transport's preparation of the dossier to propose the development of the Railway Law (amended) is an opportunity for the railway industry to focus resources and intelligence to implement with the view of developing the best draft Railway Law, which is strategic, comprehensive, with a long-term vision, and is the foundation for developing the infrastructure system, managing and exploiting railways safely and effectively," said Mr. Hien.

To ensure financial solutions for railway projects invested under the public-private partnership (PPP) method, it is necessary to allow the State budget to support the project, not exceeding 80%.

Deputy Director in charge of Vietnam Railway Authority Tran Thien Canh

Deputy Director of the Vietnam Railway Authority Tran Thien Canh said that the revised Railway Law needs to supplement and revise key contents: Development policies, incentives, and support in railway operations; railway infrastructure; railway industry and vehicles; railway staff directly serving train operations; urban railways; and high-speed railways.

In particular, supplement policies on encouraging and prioritizing the development of electrified railways using clean energy; prioritizing and encouraging localization; joint ventures and associations between domestic enterprises and foreign enterprises when investing in railway development. Supplement policies on specific mechanisms for training and developing human resources to serve the development of urban railways and high-speed railways; State financial support mechanisms for specialized training institutions...

Proposal to remove vehicle age regulations

Commenting on the proposal to develop the Railway Law (amended), Mr. Nguyen Hong Linh, Deputy General Director of Hanoi Railway Transport Joint Stock Company (Haraco) proposed to remove the regulation on the age limit for railway vehicles and add the Ministry of Transport to regulate the inspection of quality, safety and environmental protection of railway vehicles.

Proposal to remove the regulation on the age limit of railway vehicles in the Railway Law (amended); while waiting for the promulgation of a new law allowing the extension of the age limit of locomotives and carriages to 2030 (Photo: illustration).

According to Mr. Linh, Haraco is currently managing and operating 491 passenger cars and 2,676 freight cars. Implementing the program of converting vehicles to use green energy according to COP26, investing in new diesel vehicles to replace vehicles that have expired but can only be used until 2050 and will be replaced with green energy vehicles is ineffective. On the other hand, investing in new locomotives and cars in the period of 2023-2031 requires mobilizing a huge amount of capital, while enterprises have not yet had access to preferential loans from the State for purchasing and investing in railway vehicles.

Also proposing to remove the regulation on vehicle age limit, Mr. Mai The Manh, Deputy General Director of Saigon Railway Transport Joint Stock Company, said that in the period up to 2030, while waiting for the Railway Law (amended) to be promulgated, it is necessary to allow for an extension of the age limit to reduce difficulties for businesses. For example, Saigon Railway Transport Joint Stock Company has more than 400 passenger cars, of which more than 90 cars will have to be removed; has 989 freight cars, of which more than 523 cars will have to be removed. The number of remaining cars for transportation is very small, not enough to ensure business after 2024, 2025.

"In the past, to invest in vehicles, we had to borrow commercial capital, which was not preferential as stipulated in the Railway Law. Therefore, in the revised Law, we propose to include specific regulations: investment and purchase of locomotives and carriages are included in the list of projects borrowing capital from policy banks," Mr. Manh suggested.

Need to standardize urban railway technology

At the workshop, delegates from urban railway management units, inspection agencies, and localities proposed to have specific regulations for urban railways. At the same time, regulations on suburban railways, inter-regional railways, and railways connecting at the connecting points of national, urban, and high-speed railways should be added. Opinions also suggested that in the long term, it is necessary to study the separation of urban railways, national railways, and high-speed railways into separate laws.

Proposal to standardize urban railway technology (Photo: Ta Hai).

With this amendment to the Law, it is necessary to supplement and amend specific contents to create conditions for urban railway development. According to Mr. Do Viet Hai, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Transport, it is necessary to have a common technical framework for urban railways to avoid the situation where each urban railway line has its own standards.

Lessons learned from the Cat Linh - Ha Dong, Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station (Hanoi) and Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien (HCMC) lines are very clear. Along with that, there is a specific mechanism to ensure the development of human resources for urban railways and high-speed railways and clear regulations, avoiding generalities that are difficult to implement in practice.

Sharing the same view, Mr. Le Trung Hieu, Deputy Director of Hanoi Urban Railway Management Board, said that the standardization of urban railway technology is very necessary. Currently, each sponsor uses different technology. Therefore, it is necessary to standardize from the preparation stage to the implementation of urban railway projects and the connection between urban railway lines, between urban railways and national railways.

Mr. Hieu also said that national railway stations in localities are mostly located in urban centers and cities, so it is necessary to reserve appropriate land funds to connect urban railways here as well as build a TOD model (urban development oriented towards public transport). At that time, the surplus land rent from urban development around major hubs can be used to reinvest in railways, reducing the burden on the State budget.

"There should be a regulation in the Railway Law (amended) that at national railway stations and high-speed railways, priority should be given to developing the TOD model to have a legal corridor for implementation," Mr. Hieu suggested.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/sua-luat-tao-don-bay-phat-trien-duong-sat-192230915170447563.htm