Urgently complete two urban railway development projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City

(Chinhphu.vn) - On the afternoon of September 24, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha chaired the third meeting of the Working Group assisting the Steering Committee to direct the progress of implementing urban railway projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha asked leaders of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to clarify major issues in urban railway development: spatial planning, technology selection, capital mobilization, etc. - Photo: VGP/Minh Khoi

Emphasizing that the railway system must come first in the urban development orientation, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the urban railway project in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City must answer the following big questions: Projects and works that must be done immediately; research, planning, preparation, and design of urban railway infrastructure; consistency with the national high-speed railway network; selection of technology for underground construction, locomotives, carriages, management, operation, and human resource training... to build a synchronous and modern railway industry; the ability to balance investment capital sources... Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Danh Huy said that in terms of technical criteria, the urban railway network in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City has a gauge of 1435 mm, double track. Design speed is 80-160 km/h; overhead power supply system or third rail power supply; automatic train operation; vehicles using EMU distributed power trains. It is expected that by 2035, the two cities will complete the urban railway lines according to the current planning, with a total length of about 580 km. By 2045, about 369.1 km will be completed (Hanoi will add about 200.7 km; Ho Chi Minh City will add about 168.4 km). By 2060, about 158.66 km will be completed in Ho Chi Minh City. The two cities strive for urban railways to account for 30-35% of the public passenger transport market share by 2035, and increase to 55-70% after 2035.

Leaders of the Ministry of Transport report on the draft of two urban railway projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: VGP/Minh Khoi

Leaders of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City said that the urban railway lines have been initially studied, preparing underground space planning, land funds, calculating urban development areas, trade, services along the route (TOD), connecting with the national railway line as well as major traffic hubs... Immediately after the project to develop the urban railway system in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is approved by competent authorities, the two localities will continue to develop pre-feasibility studies, detailed planning, prepare investment projects according to the roadmap; especially proposing a number of specific mechanisms and policy groups. It is expected that the capital structure for investing in the urban railway system will be local budgets, loans, central budget support and other legal sources, at the same time, calling on private investors to be interested in investing in the construction of urban railway lines, stations combined with commercial centers, and means of exploitation. In addition, the two cities will establish and combine to make the most of existing human resources, training facilities with sufficient capacity to coordinate with universities and vocationaltraining facilities at home and abroad to conduct human resource training; combine with national railway projects, high-speed railways to develop the railway industry.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha: Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City need to propose specific groups of common mechanisms and policies necessary for both localities to develop urban railways - Photo: VGP/Minh Khoi

The Deputy Prime Minister highly appreciated the content of the draft two urban railway development projects of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, which have been carefully, meticulously and methodically prepared, both unified and having an approach and implementation phases suitable to the characteristics of each locality. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City continue to closely coordinate with the Ministry of Transport, fully absorb the opinions of relevant ministries and branches, and urgently complete the two projects to report to the Politburo . In which, the focus is on clarifying the context and implementation status of urban railway projects in each city; supplementing underground space planning for urban railways in Ho Chi Minh City; mobilizing investment capital; basis for determining technical and economic norms; selecting technology and autonomy in equipment manufacturing, system management and operation models, training human resources... In addition to the existing specific mechanisms and policies, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City need to specifically propose groups of common mechanisms and policies, necessary for both localities to develop urban railways; Mechanism for mobilizing and allocating medium-term public investment capital from the central and local budgets and other capital sources; safety level when mobilizing loans for macroeconomic stability...

Government.vn

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/khan-truong-hoan-thien-hai-de-an-phat-trien-duong-sat-do-thi-tai-ha-noi-tphcm-102240924171553959.htm