Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station Urban Railway Operation: When will the urban railway accelerate?
The fact that tens of thousands of Hanoians have been lining up to experience and travel on the Hanoi urban railway pilot line, Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station section, in recent days has shown the great expectations and demand of the people for this special type of passenger transport.
Thus, after nearly 15 years of waiting, the elevated section of the Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station urban railway, 8.5 km long, with 8 stations, has also been put into operation by Hanoi City. This is the first urban railway invested by the Hanoi People's Committee to be put into operation.
Although the entire route has not been completed yet, nor has it been directly connected to the urban railway line No. 2A, Cat Linh - Ha Dong, this project is certainly chosen by many people because it is a radial axis, running from the outskirts of the capital into the inner city.
For the Hanoi People's Committee and the investor, although only a part of the Project has been put into operation, it has helped relieve some of the pressure, and at the same time provided lessons learned for implementing the remaining underground section, as well as for implementing other urban railway lines in the future.
However, even if the entire route is completed in 2027 as recently proposed by the Hanoi People's Committee, the Hanoi Urban Railway Pilot Construction Project, Nhon - Hanoi Station section, still sets a record of being behind schedule, taking more than 18 years to implement with many extensions of progress and increases in total investment.
Compared to a human life, this is the period from birth to adulthood. During that precious time, the Hanoi Pilot Urban Railway Construction Project, Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station section and many other urban railway projects struggling to be implemented in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have missed the opportunity to contribute to the development of the public transport system and reduce congestion in the two largest cities in the country.
There are many reasons for this delay. The biggest reason is probably due to the scale and complexity of urban railway projects, while the capacity and experience of investors in the two localities are still limited, and there is no practical experience in managing and operating large-scale projects with high economic and technical value. This is also a common stumbling block of countries in the early stages of urban railway development.
However, even with the sharing and sympathy for the difficulties of the two city governments and investors, the time of up to 15 - 20 years to complete an urban railway line is still too long and difficult to accept in the near future.
It should be added that Conclusion No. 49-KL/TW, dated February 28, 2023 of the Politburo on the orientation for the development of Vietnam's railway transport to 2030, with a vision to 2045, determined that the urban railway network in Ho Chi Minh City (with connectivity to the Capital region) and Ho Chi Minh City will be completed by 2035.
To reach the above target, within the next 10 years, Hanoi will have to complete construction and put into operation about 301/397.8 km (about 76% of the total length of urban railway lines); by 2045, it will complete the adjusted and supplemented urban railway lines according to the Capital Planning and the adjusted Capital Master Plan.
In Ho Chi Minh City, by 2035, local authorities must complete about 183 km of urban railway, and by 2045, complete an additional 168 km, bringing the total length of urban railway to about 351.08 km.
This further demonstrates the urgent need for new thinking and innovative approaches in urban railway development. It is not only about mobilizing hundreds of billions of USD in investment capital; determining a suitable investment roadmap, but also an effective implementation method to achieve results in 1 year equal to 20 years of investment in the previous period.
Currently, the Master Plan for Investment in the Construction of the Urban Railway System in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City by 2035 is being urgently completed by the leaders of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in coordination with the Ministry of Transport with many breakthrough mechanisms to submit to competent authorities for approval. However, in addition to drawing out the difficulties from the 20 years of urban railway development, in order for the master plan to be feasible, the construction process needs to be extremely serious, elaborate, comprehensive and thorough. In particular, it requires the cooperation of the entire political system, the starting point of which is to convey the spirit of "only discussing, not retreating", thereby creating unity and high determination in the implementation process.
These are the necessary and sufficient conditions for urban railways to really accelerate, similar to the expansion of expressways, which we have had very remarkable initial results in the past 2-3 years.
Source: https://baodautu.vn/van-hanh-duong-sat-do-thi-nhon---ga-ha-noi-khi-nao-duong-sat-do-thi-but-toc-d222170.html
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