Clarifying the railway route plan connecting Tan Son Nhat Airport and Long Thanh Airport

Illustration photo.

The Ministry of Finance has just issued Official Dispatch No. 5568/BTC – DT to the Ministry of Construction to seek opinions on the railway connecting Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Long Thanh International Airport.

According to the Ministry of Finance, in Official Dispatch No. 2870/VPCP-CN dated April 4, 2025, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha requested the Ministry of Construction to specifically propose a railway route connecting Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Long Thanh International Airport, report to the Prime Minister, ensuring the principle of the shortest, fastest, and most effective route according to the Prime Minister's direction in Notice No. 545/TB-VPCP dated December 4, 2024 of the Government Office .

However, in Official Dispatch No. 583/BXD-KHTC dated March 18, 2025, the Ministry of Construction proposed a plan to connect Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Long Thanh International Airport via urban railway line No. 2 and urban railway line No. 6 connecting Tan Son Nhat International Airport with Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line; then following Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line to connect Long Thanh International Airport.

"The Ministry of Construction is requested to clearly report whether the proposed railway route connecting the two international airports complies with the Prime Minister's direction in Official Dispatch No. 545/TB-VPCP dated December 4, 2024 or is a new route option," the leader of the Ministry of Finance stated.

Regarding the management agency of the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line, the Ministry of Finance requested the Ministry of Construction to supplement the contents to clarify the legal basis and procedures for assigning the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee as the management agency to invest in the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line and assess the impact of transferring the management agency to invest in the project implementation as well as propose a management and operation plan after the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line is completed and put into operation to ensure efficiency and synchronization.

In case the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee is assigned as the governing body, the Ministry of Finance requests the Ministry of Construction to coordinate with the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and the Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Public Investment and other relevant laws to implement the investment in the construction of the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line.

Because the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line is identified as part of the national railway network, the Ministry of Finance requests the Ministry of Construction to base on the regulations on national railways and urban railways stipulated in the Railway Law and legal regulations on planning to report to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision on adjusting the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line into the Ho Chi Minh City urban railway planning.

The Ministry of Construction is also recommended to coordinate with the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to assess the impact of adding the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line to the Ho Chi Minh City urban railway planning on the project's investment and construction progress, clarify the ability to balance capital to implement the project, and serve as a basis for competent authorities to consider and decide.

It is known that in Notice No. 545, the Prime Minister assigned the Minister of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction) to urgently study the transport connection plan by railway or subway in the shortest, fastest and most effective direction, and report to the Prime Minister in the first quarter of 2025.

Previously, in Official Dispatch No. 583, the Ministry of Construction requested the Prime Minister to consider approving the policy of assigning the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee as the competent authority to invest in the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh urban railway project, to soon complete the connection plan between the two international airports and study the addition of the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line to the Ho Chi Minh City urban railway planning, adding the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line to the project list attached to Resolution No. 188/2025/QH15 dated February 19, 2025 of the National Assembly.

The Ministry of Construction also proposed to assign the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to work and agree with the Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee on assigning the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee as the project's governing body to report to the Prime Minister for decision according to the provisions of Article 30 of the Law on Public Investment.

In case of being assigned as the competent authority, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee shall receive all existing research results of the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh urban railway project to continue to carry out investment preparation and implementation.

Recently, the Ministry of Construction has coordinated with the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to study the railway route connecting the two international airports in the dossier adjusting the general planning of Ho Chi Minh City to 2040, with a vision to 2060, accordingly planning 2 routes.

Firstly, urban railway line No. 6 connects Tan Son Nhat International Airport with Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line (Phu Huu intersection); then shares the infrastructure of Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line connecting to Long Thanh International Airport; investment roadmap before 2030.

Second, urban railway line No. 2 connects Tan Son Nhat International Airport to Thu Thiem station, then follows the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line to connect to Long Thanh International Airport; investment roadmap before 2030.

According to the Ministry of Construction, the current planning of Ho Chi Minh City has determined that urban railway line No. 6 and urban railway line No. 2 are invested by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee; the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh route is the urban railway that is being invested by the Ministry of Construction. Both of the above mentioned connecting urban railway lines share the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh urban railway invested by the Ministry of Construction.

“To ensure the organization of direct connection between Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Long Thanh International Airport, these projects require investment to be completed simultaneously, and the technology and organization of operation must be assigned to a single entity to organize convenient and effective train operations, centralized management, and unified synchronization,” the Ministry of Construction analyzed.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/lam-ro-phuong-an-tuyen-duong-sat-ket-noi-san-bay-tan-son-nhat-va-san-bay-long-thanh-d278865.html