North-South high-speed railway: Breakthrough opportunity for Vietnam's rail steel industry

A once in a lifetime opportunity

The North-South high-speed railway will be one of Vietnam's key transport projects in the future. When completed, it will not only be a modern means of transport but also contribute to promoting economic development, connecting regions and creating new opportunities for industries.

The above project is considered to open up a "unique" opportunity to help the domestic steel rail industry in particular, and the domestic metallurgy and mechanical engineering industry in general, to make a strong transformation, approaching the common level of countries with advanced mechanical industries.

Hoa Phat Group invests heavily in production technology

As the largest private steel producer in Vietnam and East Asia, Hoa Phat has identified its mission as contributing to the country’s industrialization process. Each year, the group invests about 1 billion USD in new projects, including key areas such as high-speed railways.

According to Mr. Nguyen Viet Thang - General Director of Hoa Phat Group, the steel industry is the "bread of modern industry" - an indispensable foundation if Vietnam wants to build a self-reliant and advanced industry. Hoa Phat is committed to always updating advanced technology. Currently, Hoa Phat's steel production technology is not inferior to G7 countries and has a leading position in the region.

In the September 2024 meeting, when the Prime Minister invited large enterprises to contribute to the country's economy and assigned tasks, Hoa Phat Group agreed to produce high-speed railway rails and other types of rails. Immediately after that, Hoa Phat had a project to produce railway rails at Dung Quat 2 Complex, with a total investment of 14,000 billion VND.

“ We consider this the first brick of a railway industrial ecosystem. If successful, we can expand to the production of concrete sleepers, mechanical components, and even cooperate with domestic train car manufacturers. Industrial rails are a very large market. If Vietnam develops its railway infrastructure according to the plan, the demand for rails in the next 10-20 years will be very large. Not only stopping at rails, we also calculate the production of accompanying products such as sleepers, auxiliary structures, etc. to create a domestic railway ecosystem ” - General Director of Hoa Phat Group expressed.

The leader of Hoa Phat Group added that this will be the foundation for the group to expand to other projects in the future, because not only the 67 billion USD railway project, but the scale can be up to 100 billion USD. In addition to steel rails for high-speed railways, there is also a great demand for rails for the Hanoi Metro, Ho Chi Minh City Metro, rails for wharves, cranes and many other infrastructure fields.

Create overall mechanisms and policies for railways

Regarding this issue, the Department of Industry (Ministry of Industry and Trade) assessed: The high-speed railway project in Vietnam will become a key point in the country's transport infrastructure development strategy. With the goal of connecting key economic regions, reducing travel time and increasing transport capacity, this project not only helps modernize the transport system but also promotes the strong development of related industries. In particular, the construction and manufacturing industry, especially the steel industry, plays an important role in providing the necessary materials for railway construction.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thanh - Deputy Director of the Department of Industry, Ministry of Industry and Trade said that Conclusion No. 49-KL/TW dated February 28, 2023 of the Politburo on the orientation of developing Vietnam's railway transport to 2030, with a vision to 2045, oriented: "Focus on prioritizing the development of the railway industry in sync with other industries; gradually become self-sufficient in maintenance and production of some types of vehicles, materials, and equipment for railways".

Recently, the National Assembly issued Resolution No. 172/2024/QH15 dated November 30, 2024 on the investment policy for the high-speed railway project on the North-South axis, Resolution No. 187/2025/QH15 dated February 19, 2025 on the investment policy for the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway construction investment project, Resolution No. 188/2025/QH15 dated February 19, 2025 on piloting a number of specific and special mechanisms and policies to develop the urban railway network system in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, in which priority is given to the use of railway industrial products, goods and services that can be produced and provided domestically.

“ Accordingly, the project implementation creates opportunities and motivation for industrial development, especially the mechanical engineering industry, in which the steel industry makes a great contribution. If Vietnam is self-sufficient in producing steel for large projects, it will reduce dependence on imports, ” said the leader of the Department of Industry.

The North-South high-speed railway will be one of Vietnam's key transport projects in the future.

In the context that Vietnam's railway industry currently only meets the needs of maintenance and repair with old technology, to achieve the goal of developing the industry of manufacturing carriages, locomotives and the ecosystem related to the railway industry by 2030 - 2045, this industry needs to innovate its thinking, overcome its own limits, promote the spirit of self-reliance; build and implement strong, breakthrough and consistent, long-term policies.

Mr. Bui The Thanh, Head of the Department of Transport - Science and Technology, Vietnam Railway Authority (Ministry of Construction) said that one of the first solutions for developing the railway industry in Vietnam is to build and perfect institutions and policies to attract investment to specify the prescribed contents on: Incentive levels, highest support levels for the development of the railway industry.

“ There is currently no consistent system of legal documents for the development of the railway industry. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and promulgate legal documents on the development of the railway industry in a systematic manner ,” said Mr. Bui The Thanh.

Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Mechanical Enterprises (VAMI), Dr. Nguyen Chi Sang also said that Vietnam must take the lead in building and developing the railway system. The lead here should not be rigidly 100% lead but should have a localization rate and appropriate technology transfer. This not only brings autonomy in building projects but also significantly reduces costs during the construction, maintenance and development of the country's industry.

VAMI recommends immediate actions, specifically building a system of standards for the railway industry; building a comprehensive, unified roadmap for localizing the railway system; high-speed railways, national railways and urban railways; building and issuing solutions for Vietnamese enterprises to participate in the Railway System Development Program...

In addition, Vietnam must gradually research, gradually transfer, and gradually take over technology. At the same time, enterprises themselves must proactively propose preferential policies to form and develop industrial mechanics and the railway industrial mechanics.

With these assessments and observations, in the coming time, Vietnamese enterprises must identify this as a great opportunity to mobilize the country's resources from the production of materials and high technology in the next 10-15 years. This is a fulcrum for Vietnamese enterprises and contractors to rise up and develop.

The North-South high-speed railway project was approved by the National Assembly in November 2024, with a total preliminary capital of about 1.7 quadrillion VND (equivalent to 67 billion USD). The 1,541 km long route, starting from Ngoc Hoi station (Hanoi) and ending at Thu Thiem station (Ho Chi Minh City), passes through 20 provinces and cities.

Duy Anh

Source: https://congthuong.vn/duong-sat-cao-toc-bac-nam-co-hoi-but-pha-cho-cong-nghiep-thep-ray-viet-388508.html