Prime Minister: I am confident we can build high-speed railway.

Worried that more than 3,000 km of railways have not been upgraded yet, "The French built them as they are," Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also requested that by 2024, the North-South high-speed railway project must be submitted.

On the afternoon of January 9, for the first time, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended and directed the conference to deploy the 2024 production and business plan of Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR). Before that, the head of the Government visited Hanoi station, asking questions of railway workers and passengers.

Prime Minister visits and encourages railway workers

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Sharing at the conference, the Prime Minister repeatedly emphasized his emotion at the innovations of the railway industry in the past few years. From the many worries when the railway industry fell into crisis during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, 20,000 workers had no jobs, no income, in just 2 years, the railway industry has almost transformed itself when it escaped losses and made a profit. Recalling when visiting Hanoi station, the Prime Minister said that when asking workers "What's new in the railway industry?", they were answered with many new things, more beautiful trains, more beautiful stations, better services, and more satisfied passengers. "Their salaries were not disclosed, but they said they were enough to eat and wear. I also asked 2 train passengers, and they both answered "traveling by train is very enjoyable now". When asked if it was easy to buy tickets, people said it was easy to buy, through bank cards, QR Codes. When getting on the train, it was clean, the service was comfortable," said the Prime Minister. According to the Prime Minister, the direct survey of railway workers and customers, although not large in number, received very real answers, showing the progress of the industry.

Prime Minister directly surveys and inspects Hanoi station

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Besides, VNR 's reported data also shows that revenue and profit after tax both exceeded the plan. “I am also impressed by the construction of “train lines, flower roads” which sounds very familiar and familiar, but has a very high appeal; or the slogan “each route is a flower garden, each station is a destination”, the Prime Minister reiterated and highly appreciated the progress of VNR in 2023. However, the head of the Government also noted that there are still many shortcomings such as low total investment, backward infrastructure, the current status of locomotives and carriages is not capable of meeting the demand, if the train speed can be increased to 100 km/h, it will be more efficient... Compared to the Oil and Gas Group, according to the Prime Minister, a few years ago, many people asked to quit their jobs, but now the atmosphere is completely different, revenue and profit are both good. Currently, the Railway Corporation has also “found a way out”, this is the important point. However, the Prime Minister also expressed great concern when “more than 3,000 km of railway has not been upgraded, the French built it and it is still intact. We cannot give up or submit, when there is a right mechanism, it will create efficiency". China has 42,000 km of high-speed railway, surrounding countries also have high-speed railway. For Vietnam, according to the Prime Minister, the Politburo has given a policy for this term to build high-speed railway. The Party's policy is already there, it must be turned into a project, a program, finding capital and technology to do it, to improve the efficiency of the railway system. During the process, research must be done to retain or renew the railway system, scientists, managers... must research to have suitable options. "Talking about old things but having to discuss new things, there must be breakthroughs, not just the usual story of repairing a few trains, upgrading a few stations. I want to work with my comrades to bring new momentum, develop a breakthrough in the railway industry, build high-speed railways according to the resolutions of the Party and the Politburo in the coming years. I am sure we can do it", the Prime Minister emphasized.

Representative of automatic ticket selling unit introduces technology to Prime Minister

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In 2024, try to submit a policy to build a high-speed railway project. It can be divided into several large projects such as Lao Cai - Hai Phong, Lang Son - Hanoi - Hai Phong, Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho. Regarding resources, the Prime Minister said that we must try to perfect the institution, exploit available resources, more than 300 stations, land, people... Restructure existing assets, stations, railways, bring higher efficiency value; restructure operations, organize the apparatus in accordance with the market economy . In particular, developing high-speed railways must have priority policies, removing current obstacles.

Loss-free after 3 years

Previously, reporting to the Prime Minister, Mr. Hoang Gia Khanh, General Director of VNR, said that VNR achieved a profit of VND 94.8 billion in 2023, escaping losses after 3 consecutive years. Consolidated revenue reached VND 8,503 billion, profit after tax reached VND 94.8 billion. Workers in the industry have an average income of VND 9.5 million per month, reaching 105% over the same period. VNR has experienced 3 consecutive years of declining revenue and negative profits. In 2020, it lost more than VND 1,300 billion, in 2021 it lost VND 654 billion and in 2022 it lost VND 111 billion. According to VNR's leaders, the positive business results are due to the gradual recovery of passenger transport by rail. Last year, VNR transported 6.1 million passengers, equal to 135% of the same period last year. Besides, according to Mr. Manh, in 2023, the railway industry has achieved the goal of bringing the border gate deep into the inland, opening international transit trains, Kep Bac Giang station, Thach Gia Trang train...

Prime Minister greets train passengers at Hanoi station on the afternoon of January 9

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In addition, the launch of high-quality trains, organizing weddings on trains, sales apps, upgrading railway cafes, creative design festivals at Gia Lam train station... have been well received by customers. However, railway leaders also admitted that there are still many shortcomings such as cumbersome apparatus, slow thinking changes leading to low business efficiency. In 2024, the railway industry aims to restructure resources, capital, and human resources to prepare for the exploitation of the new national railway and the North-South high-speed railway.

Thanhnien.vn

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