Operation of the Nhon urban railway

Operating the Nhon - Hanoi Station urban railway: When will the urban railway system accelerate?

The fact that tens of thousands of Hanoi residents lined up to experience and travel on the pilot urban railway line of Hanoi, the Nhon - Hanoi Station section, in recent days shows the great expectations and demand of the people for this special type of passenger transport.

Thus, after nearly 15 years of waiting, the 8.5 km elevated section of the Nhon - Hanoi Station urban railway line, with 8 stations, has been put into operation by the Hanoi People's Committee. This is the first urban railway line invested in and managed by the Hanoi People's Committee to be put into operation.

Although the entire line is not yet complete, nor is it directly connected to the Cat Linh - Ha Dong urban railway line 2A, this project will certainly be chosen by a large number of people because it is a radial axis running from the outskirts of the capital deep into the city center.

For the Hanoi People's Committee and the investor, although only a part of the project has been put into operation, it has helped alleviate some of the pressure and provided valuable lessons for implementing the remaining underground section, as well as for the deployment of other urban railway lines in the future.

Even if the entire line is completed by 2027 as recently proposed by the Hanoi People's Committee, the Hanoi City Pilot Urban Railway Project, Nhon - Hanoi Station section, would still set a record for delays, taking over 18 years to implement with numerous extensions and increases in total investment.

Compared to a human lifespan, this is the period from a child's birth to adulthood. During this precious time, the Hanoi City Pilot Urban Railway Project, Nhon - Hanoi Station section, along with many other urban railway projects struggling to be implemented in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, have missed the opportunity to contribute to the development of public transportation systems and reduce traffic congestion in the two largest cities in the country.

Several reasons have been cited for this delay. The biggest reason, perhaps, is the scale and complexity of urban railway projects, while the capacity and experience of the investors in the two localities are limited, lacking practical experience in managing and operating large-scale projects with high economic and technical implications. This is also a common pitfall for countries in the early stages of urban railway development.

Nevertheless, even after showing understanding and empathy for the difficulties faced by the two city governments and the investor, a timeframe of 15-20 years to complete an urban railway line is still too long and unacceptable in the near future.

It should be added that Conclusion No. 49-KL/TW, dated February 28, 2023, of the Politburo on the orientation for the development of Vietnam's railway transport system until 2030, with a vision to 2045, has determined that the urban railway network in Ho Chi Minh City (with connectivity to the Capital Region) and Ho Chi Minh City itself will be completed by 2035.

To achieve the aforementioned goal, within the next 10 years, Hanoi will have to complete the construction and put into operation approximately 301/397.8 km (about 76% of the total length of urban railway lines); by 2045, it will complete the urban railway lines adjusted and added according to the Capital City Planning and the adjusted General Planning of the Capital City.

In Ho Chi Minh City, by 2035, the local government must complete approximately 183 km of urban railway, and an additional 168 km by 2045, bringing the total length of urban railway to approximately 351.08 km.

This further highlights the urgent need for new, groundbreaking thinking and approaches in urban rail development. It's not just about mobilizing hundreds of billions of USD in investment capital and determining a suitable investment roadmap, but also about effective implementation methods to achieve results in one year equivalent to the investment of the previous 20 years.

Currently, the Master Plan for the Investment and Construction of Urban Railway Systems in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City until 2035 is being urgently finalized by the leaders of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in coordination with the Ministry of Transport, with many groundbreaking mechanisms, for submission to competent authorities for approval. However, in addition to learning from the setbacks of 20 years of urban railway development, for the master plan to be feasible, the construction process needs to be extremely serious, meticulous, comprehensive, and thorough. In particular, it requires the joint efforts of the entire political system, starting with conveying the spirit of "only discussing action, not retreating," thereby creating unity and high determination in the implementation process.

These are the necessary and sufficient conditions for urban rail transport to truly accelerate, similar to the expansion of expressways, for which we have seen very encouraging initial results in the past 2-3 years.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/van-hanh-duong-sat-do-thi-nhon---ga-ha-noi-khi-nao-duong-sat-do-thi-but-toc-d222170.html