Ambitious railway development plan in Vietnam until 2030

June 12, 2021 | 12:35

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Along with upgrading existing railway routes, Vietnam has ambitious plans to develop a number of new ones during the 2021-2030 period to strengthen regional economic development.

ambitious railway development plan in vietnam in 2021 2030

Vietnam will construct nine new railway lines in the next 10 years

According to the draft planning on railway development until 2030 with a vision to 2050 submitted by the Vietnam Railways Administration to the Ministry of Transport (MoT), the market share of railway would be increased to 0.3 per cent in cargo transportation and 1.08 per cent in passenger transportation by 2030.

To achieve this goal, the national railway network will be extended to 16 major routes with a total length of 4,750km. The number includes seven existing routes and nine new lines.

Among the nine new routes, top priority is given to the North-South high-speed railway project, with plans to build the first two routes: Hanoi-Vinh and Nha Trang-Ho Chi Minh City.

Dang Quyet Tien, head of the Corporate Finance Agency under the Ministry of Finance, said that the North-South high-speed railway project will have big socio-economic influence, promoting the development of sectors like mechanics and high technology.

Regarding capital sources for this project, Tien said that when this project is included in the public investment programme, there will be ways to attract official development assistance (ODA) funds, and government bond issuance, and others.

Vu Anh Minh, chairman of Vietnam Railways said, "If we divide investment in the high-speed railway project into stages, I think it’s better to invest in the Hanoi-Danang and Ho Chi Minh City-Nha Trang routes first, instead of the Hanoi-Vinh segment as proposed in order to optimally meet demand. In addition, the central region is Vietnam's centre for tourism, especially Nha Trang and Danang which are attracting touritsts from both the southern and northern provinces,” the chairman explained.

In addition to the proposal to develop the first two routes on the North-South high-speed railway, the draft planning also proposes eight new lines, four of which would connect to seaports. They include the Yen Vien-Pha Lai connecting with Cai Lan seaport, and the one connecting with Lach Huyen International Gateway Port.

In the next 10 years, the draft also proposes prioritising railway routes connecting regions, including Dong Ngoc Hoi-Lac Dao-Bac Hong, Thu Thiem-Long Thanh, and Ho Chi Minh City-Can Tho, and others.

Along the new developments, the draft proposes an investment of about VND47.3 trillion ($2.05 billion) for upgrading existing railway routes until 2030 in order to increase operation efficiency.