Railways to get zoning ontrack

Public transport is the only way to get congested cities moving

In a recent seminar with French investors to develop urban railway system, Hanoi People’s Committee vice chairman Nguyen Van Khoi stressed that all of the proposed railway routes must be integrated with plans to develop Hanoi’s urban areas.

“In order to sustainably develop Hanoi, we need to develop urban railway system with zoning the urban areas along the system and their stations,” Khoi said.

This target will bring about many advantages, such as  providing good public services and maximising land use.

“Investing in urban railway needs a very huge capital so it needs to maximise the benefits of the system by connecting urban railway with other facilities,” Khoi said.

Luc Vorilhon, general director of Systra Group - which is the consultant for the 12 kilometre elevator and metro route linking Nhon  station in Tu Liem district to Hanoi station, said Systra’s key target was to connect the metro with all other means of transport, especially buses.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) expert Iwata Shizuo said an integrated transport mode meant it was linked with buses, walking and vehicle avenues. Since June, this year JICA has supported Vietnam with a project to integrate a public transport strategy in Hanoi.

The project is to strengthen connectivity between urban mass rapid transit railway, bus and other modes to encourage the use of public transport.

Shizuo said the Vietnamese government must think about the integration of public transport strategy with other urban strategies such as economic development, poverty issues, land and housing.

Hanoi’s transport system master plan was approved by the government in July, 2008 and covers urban railways, buses and small scale cabs. The railway system will be the backbone transport network, estimated to increase the number of passengers using public transport system to more than 45 per cent of the total demand in 2020, from 20 per cent currently. 

To 2020, Hanoi will develop five urban railway routes in the total length of 180km. Currently three routes are processing with total investment capital of more than $6 billion.

Of those routes 2A linking Cat Linh and Hadong will be firstly put into operation in 2013 with 13km elevated railway. Others will be put into operation by 2018.