First urban railway station opened to public

Illustration photo

A corner of Le Khe Station of Ha Noi’s Cat Linh-Ha Dong Urban Railway  

On May 20, hundreds of visitors flocked to the station and the urban railway in the capital.

The station is open to the public on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday a week from 9am-11am and from 14pm to 16pm. On Saturday, the opening time will be from 9am to 15pm.

The Railway Project Management Unit under the Ministry of Transport reported that the railway will have 12 stations and one depot area. So far 90% of the project has been finalized. The rest of 12 tramcars will arrive in Viet Nam in June and July, 2017.

As schedule, the project will operate since October, 2017 with three-to-six months of trial.

The project will officially run at the end of Q1 and early Q2 of 2018.

It was groundbroken on October 10, 2011 with an intitital investment of US$ 552.86 million, including US$ 419 million of China’s ODA provision.

After that, investment was adjusted to US$ 868.04 million (up US$ 315.18 million from the initial investment). The Vietnamese Government borrowed US$ 250.62 million from the Chinese side and contributed the rest of investment.

Planning of metro lines in Ha Noi

Overview of Ha Noi’s UMRT

Under the Comprehensive Urban Development Program in Ha Noi Capital City (HAIDEP) by 2020 with a vision towards 2030 which was introduced in 2007, the city will have five metro lines and 600 kilometers of new roads.  

Line 1: (Ngoc Hoi-Yen Vien) has a designed length of 32.5 kilometers. The first phase was concluded on September, 2009 with a total length of 15.3 kilometers from Giap Bat to Gia Lam with initial investment of VND 1,900 billion. The project was scheduled to be completed in 2017. However, the project was adjusted to Ngoc Hoi-Ha Noi station and split Ha Noi station and Gia Lam. Due to different reasons, the project was suspended in 2014.

Line 2: has a designed length of 63 kilometres, connecting Noi Bai and Ha Dong with three lines 2A, 2.1, and 2.2.

 Line 2: (Cat Linh-Ha Dong) has a length of 14 kilometres and will be put into operation in 2018. The investment capital was adjusted from US$ 552.86 million to US$ 891.92 million (up 61%).

 Line  2.1 (Nam Thang Long – Tran Hung Dao) has a length of 11.5 kilometers. Designed investment capital was VND 19,555 billion and raised to VND 35,678 billion. The deadline for project completion was extended from 2017 to 2032. However, by late May, 2017, total investment was yet decided.

 Line 2.1: (Tran Hung Dao – Thuong Dinh) has an estimated investment of VND 34,743 trillion (US$ 1.668 billion), remains at research process and was scheduled to be ratified by 2020.

Line 3: (Nhon-Hoang Mai) has a designed length of 33 kilometers with two phases.

 Phase 1 (Nhon – Ha Noi Station) has an initial investment of €783 million and then € 1,176 million. The project was set to be completed in 2016 but extended until 2021. It will be 12.5 kilometers long (8.5 km overhead, 4 km underground)

 Phase 2: (Ha Noi Station – Hoang Mai) with a planned investment of US$ 1,225 million  

Line 4: Initial research in bus rapid transit (BRT) or a metro rail system with a designed length of 54 kilometers, including 41 kilometers overhead and 13 kilometers underground. Total investment would be US$ 6,196 million.

Line 5: (Van Cao – Hoa Lac) with a designed length of 39 kilometers. Especially, Van Cao-Song Phuong part was designed with ten stations with a total length of 15 kilometers, including six kilometers underground and nine kilometers overhead. The project was estimated at VND 40,000 billion.

In addition, Urban Rapid Mass Transit (UMRT) concluded three other metro lines (6, 7, and 8), three mono rails, and eight BRTs. However, approval has yet been given to the conduct of feasibility studies of these projects.

An incompleted metro project in Ha Noi

Projects behind schedule

However, the progress of urban train projects in Ha Noi have not met public expectation and been implemented behind schedule.

At a recent meeting,  Secretary of the Ha Noi Party People’s Committee Hoang Trung Hai directly pointed out five major obstacles, including capital shortage, site clearance, management personnel, lack of practical experience, and weak coordination among relevant units.

Regarding capital, according to Mr. Hai, mechanisms for the capital lacks flexibility to appeal public-private partnerships and attract investment from enterprises amidst tight budget and tougher machismos on ODA provision and disbursement. Moreover, the city also faced manpower deficiency. Personnel of the Railway Project Management Unit is short in number and quality. 

In terms of site clearance, the Party leader asked local departments and sectors to speed up site clearance for urban metro lines, especially Nhon-Ha Noi Station project to speed up progress and cut costs.  

Vice Chairman of the Association of Science and Technology of Viet Nam, Nguyen Ngoc Long, said that the elevated railway is aimed at mass transport of a large number of passengers, which requires a network of connected routes, built in tandem with other urban planning for public transportation. However, with just one route like this, then in its initial phase, efficiency is heavily curtailed, Long said, adding that the whole system must be done faster. 

Nguyen Xuan Thuy, former Director of the Transport Publisher, warned that if the linkages between routes and stations, as well as the coordination work, are not handled well, then the ridership will suffer. “Initially, many people might get on the metro, out of curiosity, but over time, inconvenience will deter them.”

The  overhead railway, subway and national and urban railway projects will need US$7.345 billion, including US$5.542 billion from foreign sources and US$1.803 billion from domestic sources./.

By Kim Loan