Ministry of Construction supports North-South railway with speed of 350km/h, investment capital of more than 70 billion USD

Minister of Construction Nguyen Thanh Nghi has just sent a document to the Ministry of Transport (MOT) to give comments on the project to invest in a high-speed railway on the North-South axis.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Construction agreed to invest in high-speed railway on the North-South axis according to scenario 3.

Specifically, the Ministry of Construction agreed to build a new North-South railway according to the double-track scenario, 1,435mm gauge, 22.5 tons/axle load, passenger train operation and reserve for freight transport when needed, design speed 350km/h.

Total project investment capital under scenario 3 is about 68.98 billion USD. In case of immediate investment in infrastructure, equipment, and vehicles to serve the exploitation of cargo trains running North - South, the project investment capital is about 71.69 billion USD.

With this scenario, the North-South high-speed railway line will be completely renewed with 60% bridges, 10% tunnels, and 30% running on the ground.

High-speed rail is a convenient means of transport in developed countries. (Photo: Vu Diep)

The entire route has 23 passenger stations, 5 assembly, repair and maintenance areas, 40 infrastructure maintenance facilities, 5 freight stations, 4 depots, and 28 km of connecting lines to operate freight trains when demand for goods exceeds operating capacity.

The project requires the purchase of 74 distributed power trains, with 1,184 carriages, with a train operating capacity of 175 pairs of trains/day and night (high-speed railway 150 pairs of trains, existing railway 25 pairs of trains), transporting about 133.5 million passengers/year and 20 million tons of goods/year.

Although agreeing to invest in the North-South high-speed railway project according to scenario 3, the Ministry of Construction said that the investment plan has not clearly shown the upgrade and modernization of the existing North-South railway line with which gauge.

“With the integration trend, ensuring international transport requirements in the future operation process, the Ministry of Transport needs to study upgrading and modernizing the existing North-South railway line by replacing the entire current 1,000mm gauge with the standard 1,435mm gauge” – the document of the Ministry of Construction stated.

In addition, the North-South high-speed railway project has a length of 1,545km, passing through 20 provinces and cities, while the provinces are establishing and approving regional and provincial planning...

Along with the increasing speed of urbanization, situations may arise that change the design direction of the high-speed railway on the North-South axis, leading to the need to adjust the volume of construction, leading to changes in the total investment of the project.

Therefore, the Ministry of Construction requested the Ministry of Transport to coordinate with localities where the project runs through to ensure the agreement on the route is maintained.

The Ministry of Construction also noted that with the investment cost of the North-South railway reaching tens of billions of USD, to ensure the feasibility of the project, the Ministry of Transport needs to supplement legal bases to propose a preliminary total investment capital.

In addition to scenario 3, the Ministry of Transport is seeking opinions from members of the Steering Committee for the development and implementation of the project on high-speed railway investment policy on the North-South axis and important national railway projects on the remaining two scenarios, including:

Scenario 1: build a new double-track North-South railway line, 1,435mm gauge, 1,545km long, design speed 350km/h, axle load 17 tons/axle, exclusively for passenger trains.

At the same time, upgrade and renovate the existing North-South railway to transport goods, tourists and short-distance passengers. The total investment capital is about 67.32 billion USD.

Scenario 2: build a new North-South railway line, double track, 1,435mm gauge, 22.5 tons/axle load, operating both passenger and freight trains, design speed of about 200 - 250km/h, maximum freight train speed of 120km/h.

At the same time, modernize the existing North-South railway to transport goods, tourists and short-distance passengers. Total investment capital is about 72.02 billion USD.

Strive to approve the investment policy for the North-South high-speed railway in 2024. The National Assembly requested to study and complete the Project on the high-speed railway project on the North-South axis, striving to approve the project investment policy as soon as possible in 2024.

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