On March 26, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha chaired the second meeting of the Steering Committee for construction and implementation of the high-speed railway investment policy project on the North - South axis and important railway projects. nation.
According to a report from the Ministry of Transport, the high-speed railway with a design speed of 350 km/h can transport passengers and goods when needed; The existing railway line will be converted to serve freight transport.
Recently, the Ministry of Transport has coordinated with the General Statistics Office (Ministry of Planning and Investment) to evaluate the impact of the North-South High-Speed Railway Project on the economy, showing that the project can contribute about 1 percentage point of growth. GDP growth per year in the period 2025-2037.
The Ministry of Transport and related agencies have also reviewed, updated and completed the capital mobilization plan and assessed the impact of public debt; human resource development project; Railway industry development orientation...
In addition to implementing renovation and upgrading to effectively exploit existing railway lines, the Railway Project Management Board is also implementing steps to prepare for investment in projects that fall under the criteria of nationally important projects. Note: Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong route is located on the East - West economic corridor; Ngoc Hoi (Thanh Tri, Hanoi) - Thach Loi (Dong Anh, Hanoi) connecting railway lines to the south and north; Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho connects Ho Chi Minh City with the Southwestern provinces; Thu Thiem - Long Thanh connects Ho Chi Minh City with Long Thanh Airport; Bien Hoa - Vung Tau connects the Southeast provinces with Ho Chi Minh City and Cai Mep - Thi Vai seaport area.
The second meeting of the Steering Committee for construction and implementation of the high-speed railway investment policy project on the North - South axis (Photo: VGP).
Regarding difficulties and obstacles, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Danh Huy said that important national railway projects are large-scale, have complex technical standards, and go through many localities, so they need to be considered carefully and carefully. Investment preparation takes a long time and requires close coordination between ministries, branches and localities.
Railway projects bring great economic efficiency but project financial efficiency is not high, so the state budget needs to play the leading role and prioritize allocating resources for investment.
The domestic railway industry has not yet produced vehicles, equipment, components and spare parts for railways in general.
Human resources do not have access to advanced management and technical levels; lack of railway experts.
According to Prof.Dr. La Ngoc Khue, former Deputy Minister of Transport, in addition to the goal of transporting passengers, the high-speed railway must increase its market share in long-distance freight transport to reduce logistics costs; and "must definitely connect with international railway lines".
“Although inland waterway and sea transport have cost advantages, it takes a long time and loads and unloads many times, so this is a huge opportunity for the railway industry to increase its market share of goods transport. long distance, improving the competitiveness of the economy", Prof. Dr. La Ngoc Khue analyzed.
Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha concluded the meeting (Photo: VGP).
Agreeing with this opinion, Dr. Le Xuan Nghia believes that in the future, carbon tax will increase the cost of road, waterway and air transport, while this will be an advantage of long-distance rail transport.
Mr. Vuong Dinh Khanh - former Deputy General Director of Vietnam Railway Corporation proposed to carefully calculate the plan to make the entire existing railway line only serve freight trains; investing in the railway industry, especially manufacturing locomotives, carriages, etc. in parallel with the roadmap for implementing the high-speed railway project.
Meanwhile, Dr. Nguyen Van Phuc - former Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee expressed, "Our technology and technology still depend on the outside world, so what can be proactive is the mechanism and policy to mobilize resources." , a breakthrough in how to do it".
Noting the opinions of experts and scientists, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that an industrialized and modernized country needs to develop high-speed railways to reduce logistics costs and improve the competitiveness of the economy. economy, in the current green transition trend.
The Ministry of Transport needs to receive, explain, and clarify the opinions raised at the meeting, complete investment plans for high-speed railway lines to ensure synchronization and unification of regulations and standards from design to infrastructure. floors, facilities, information systems, operations...
"It is necessary to retain iconic central stations in large urban areas, and at the same time ensure safe corridors by combining with elevated and underground routes," the Deputy Prime Minister noted.
The Deputy Prime Minister also requested the Ministry of Transport to clarify economic efficiency, technology, techniques and experience in operating high-speed railways combining passenger and goods transport around the world; capital mobilization plan, investment phasing; organizational model of management apparatus, synchronous and unified operation; Plan to receive and transfer techniques and technologies towards mastering and building the domestic railway industry.
