Proposal to build Hanoi - Quang Ninh railway line with speed of 300 km/h

Illustration photo.

According to information from the Investment Electronic Newspaper - Baodautu.vn , Vingroup Corporation has just proposed to the Prime Minister to build a Hanoi - Quang Ninh railway line, serving passenger transport, with a speed of up to 300 km/h.

Vingroup also wants to research and invest in the construction of the Hanoi - Quang Ninh Railway Project under the PPP method with the form of a build - own - operate (BOO) contract to reduce the burden of investment, maintenance and operation for the state budget.

If approved by competent authorities, this will be an important boost in tourism development and investment for Hanoi and Quang Ninh.

It is not yet clear whether the 300 km/h high-speed railway line from Hanoi to Quang Ninh that Vingroup proposed will be newly built or based on the infrastructure of the Yen Vien - Pha Lai - Ha Long - Cai Lan railway line that is under construction.

However, Vingroup believes that investing in the Hanoi - Quang Ninh railway line with a design speed of 120 km/h is not suitable for current technology and does not meet the needs of passengers nor is it attractive enough to compete with road transport in the context of increasingly completed highways from Hanoi to Quang Ninh, making travel more convenient.

Previously, at the end of January 2025, the Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction) proposed to the Government a plan to complete the Yen Vien - Pha Lai - Ha Long - Cai Lan railway line.

According to the Ministry of Transport, the Yen Vien - Pha Lai - Ha Long - Cai Lan Railway Project was implemented in 2004, but is still unfinished. Up to now, the planning has changed a lot. Previously, the project was established based on the forecast results of transportation demand, mainly for goods, attracting goods from the Yunnan region of China connecting to Cai Lan port (Quang Ninh).

Currently, the seaport planning has been adjusted, focusing on development in the Hai Phong area (Lach Huyen port), the connecting railway line on the East-West Corridor is the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong route.

According to national and local sector planning for the corridor connecting localities of Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Hai Duong, Quang Ninh, there are many cultural heritages and tourist areas, so the demand for passenger transport is large.

The latest forecast results on the Yen Vien - Pha Lai - Ha Long - Cai Lan route show that the demand for passenger transport is higher and the demand for goods is lower than before. This has caused the project's function to change, with passenger transport being the main focus.

In addition, the Project has completed and put into use Sub-project 1 (Ha Long - Cai Lan port section), so only the remaining 3 sub-projects are considered for investment.

In fact, Sub-project 4, Yen Vien - Lim section, overlaps with the planning of the Hanoi - Dong Dang railway line. The current status of this section is a single track with a combined gauge of 1,435 mm and 1,000 mm, which does not require investment but still meets the project's operational requirements.

Thus, only Sub-projects 2 and 3 remain that need to be studied and invested in the direction of building a new Lim - Pha Lai section to open the route and upgrading and renovating the old route, Pha Lai - Ha Long section, ensuring the connection from Yen Vien to Cai Lan port as originally set out.

At the same time, the Ministry of Transport also proposed to study the adjustment from a single-gauge track to a single-gauge track of 1,435 mm standard, with a speed of 120 km/h, and to adjust the functions and locations of some stations along the route to suit transport needs, ensuring urban planning and tourism development (such as Chi Linh station). The remaining purchased materials will be transferred to the Vietnam Railway Corporation to serve the maintenance of existing national railway lines.

It is estimated that the preliminary study to continue investing according to the above plan will require about 4,000 billion VND. Thus, considering the volume previously implemented due to the suspension and extension, the preliminary total investment cost of the project is about 8,300 billion VND (an increase of about 700 billion VND compared to the initial total investment).

Source: https://baodautu.vn/de-xuat-xay-tuyen-duong-sat-ha-noi---quang-ninh-van-toc-300-kmh-d268909.html