Five high speed railways

The Ministry of Transport will speed up the construction of two projects of high-speed trains linking Hanoi with the central province of Nghe An’s Vinh City, and Ho Chi Minh City with the south-central province of Khanh Hoa’s Nha Trang beach city.

The two high-speed trains are expected to be put into operation by 2030.

Totaling 651 kilometers long, the two high-speed railroad routes will cost some VND561.6 trillion (US$24.3 billion).

Once they are up and running, work will start on other routes to complete the North-South or trans-Vietnam high-speed railroad.

A high-speed train model between Hanoi and Vinh City in the north-central Nghe An Province. Source: MoT

The trans-Vietnam high-speed railroad is a key task in the draft railway plan for 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050 designed by the transport ministry.

Speaking at a recent meeting held in Hanoi, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said the railway industry set target to transport 16.50 million tons of cargo and 30.9 million passengers by 2030. The figure is expected to increase by 15% of cargo and 19% of passengers by 2050.

The transport minister also requested the plan consultants to complete the final report of the draft railway planning for the period of 2031- 2050.

The investment capital demand for the railway industry in this period would be more than VND1.5 trillion (US$65 million), in which some US$33 million will be invested in high-speed train and US$32 million for conventional rail services.

To occupy more marketshare of the transportation industry as designed, Dr. Dang Huy Dong, director of the Planning and Development Institute, said the ticket price of high-speed trains running at 350 kilometers per hour (kph) would be lower than airfares to be competitive.

“However, passenger trains running at speeds of 150 kph and 100 kph would bring optimum socio-economic benefits, and reduce subsidies,” Dong added.

Former deputy transport minister La Ngoc Khue rejected the proposal for 350 kph train saying that it would entail huge costs since Vietnam would need to import equipment and expertise.

He suggested building railway service with a top speed of 140 kph instead to ensure economic and technical feasibility.

Vietnam has over 3,000km of track; none of it is high speed. In addition to high-speed railways, seven new railway lines will be built at this stage and the old lines will be improved, according to the plan.

Hanoitimes

It would undertake 15 percent of total cargo and 19 percent of passengers by 2050.

To implement the plan, Vietnam would need VND665 trillion, of which VND561 trillion would be spent on a high-speed railway.

Consultants are estimating the development of a 350 km/h high-speed railway from Hanoi to Vinh and from HCM City to Nha Trang with the length of 651 kilometers. The railway would be put into operation by 2030 if transport demand is high, or by 2032 if demand is low.

Another high-speed railway section, from Vinh to Nha Trang, would be built by 2050. Other routes, including Lao Cai – Hanoi – Hai Phong, Di An – Loc Ninh and Thap Cham – Da Lat, would be considered.

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The has asked the consultancy firm to assess whether a north-south high-speed railway is needed and analyze forecasts about demand. They will also compare other transport means based on the same corridor and transport distance so as to determine investment plans for different periods.

Vu Anh Minh, chair of Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR), said with Vietnam’s geographical, natural and geopolitical conditions, developing high-speed railways is a necessity.

He believes that investment should be implemented as soon as possible, as a high-speed railway would serve as leverage to change the transport market share and population distribution, and act as an impetus for socio-economic development.

According to VNR, 200 km distance is a suitable distance for roads, 200-300 km for roads and railways, 300-1,500 km for railways, 1,500-2,000 km for railways and airways, and over 2,00 km for airways.

As such, with the terrain stretching from north to the south, a high-speed highway is reasonable.

Passengers spend five hours to fly from Hanoi to HCM City. With a high-speed railway, passengers will spend six hours. For short distance routes such as Hanoi-Vinh, people would prefer a high-speed railway which will bring them to the destination in one hour.

Phan Le Binh from Japan’s JICA commented that the investment in a high-speed railway requires huge capital and that it would be better to make investments in stages. The Hanoi-Vinh and HCM City-Nha Trang sections should be developed first.

Regarding capital arrangement for the projects, Dang Quyet Tien from the Ministry of Finance said the capital could be sourced from ODA, government bonds and private investment.

Vu Diep

Three high-speed routes are currently under study or have been proposed: north-south, Ho Chi Minh City-Can Tho and Hanoi-Lang Son.

A final report by consultancy consortium CCTDI-TRICC-TEDI, comprising three Vietnamese construction firms, on the master plan for railroad development for 2021-30 sets out two options.

The more ambitious one envisages the completion of phased investment for two north-south high-speed railways , Hanoi-Vinh and HCMC-Nha Trang by 2030.

The two railways have a total length of 651 km and might cost VND561 trillion ($24.18 billion) to be built.

The other is to complete them by 2032 at a cost of VND375 trillion. The consultants forecast a maximum of 14 million passengers using the high-speed trains annually at that time.

They expect an average of 44.7 million passengers using north-south railroads annually by 2050.

An expert who asked not to named said however that these options are “overly optimistic,” if not downright unfeasible.

He said 10 years would not be enough to complete these projects, considering the approvals that need to obtained at various levels, the money that needs to be raised and carrying out the work.

There is also a continuing debate on whether the trains should run at 200 kph as proposed by the Ministry of Planning and Investment and some experts or 350 kph as suggested by the Ministry of Transport and the consultants.

That may prolong the time required for getting National Assembly approval.

Dang Huy Dong, director of the Planning and Development Institute, said building infrastructure for trains running at 350kph would be prohibitively expensive, and the resultant high fares would also make the entire thing unviable.

It is economically efficient to have passenger trains running at a speed of 150kph and freight trains at 100kph, he told local media.

The State Appraisal Council is in the process of identifying an agency that would assess the feasibility of the various options for the north-south routes.

Recently the Lang Son Province people’s committee proposed building the Hanoi-Dong Dang high-speed rail starting in 2030, saying is necessary to enhance rail transport between ASEAN countries and China. The proposed route will go on up to Nanning in Guangxi, China.

Earlier this year the Ministry of Transport ordered the Railway Project Management Board to complete a pre-feasibility study on the HCMC-Can Tho link by 2022.

The South Construction Technology Science Institute wants high-speed trains on the route with a 1.43-meter double track serving both passenger and freight trains traveling at 200 kph and 100 kph.

It expected it to cost around $10 billion.

A Ministry of Transport official said the route might be necessary, but many issues need to be sorted out first. For instance, the 150-km distance might not be ideal for a high-speed train, he said.

Vu Anh Minh, chairman of Vietnam Railways, said flying from Hanoi to HCMC takes around five hours in all while a high-speed train traveling at 300 kph would take six hours.

“Considering the nature and geography of Vietnam, the development of a high-speed network is imperative, and we are losing socioeconomic development opportunities every day without it.”

Passengers wait to board Shanghai’s high-speed train to Pudong airport, China. — AFP/VNA Photo

HÀ NỘI — Due to Việt Nam’s natural features and geography, the development of a high-speed railway is imperative and any delays will hinder socio-economic growth, Chairman of Vietnam Railways Vũ Anh Minh has said.

Minh said the current infrastructure of the railway network was getting older and falling into a state of disrepair.

The capacity was very low compared to the current demand for freight and passenger transport.

The railway sector has not improved as the capacity of a single track was only 21 pairs of trains per day.

The railroads were not regularly maintained and the quality of the infrastructure was severely degraded, he added.

Minh cited the Hà Nội-HCM City route as an example. Flying from Hà Nội to HCM City takes around two hours in total while a high-speed train travelling at 300 kph would take six hours.

According to the Ministry of Transport’s draft railway planning for the 2021-2030 period, the railway sector aims to meet the transport needs of 16.5 million tons of cargo and 30.9 million passengers by 2030.

These numbers would increase by 15 per cent and 19 per cent respectively by 2050.

To achieve this plan, the transport sector expected to get more than VNĐ665 trillion (US$28.9 million), of which investment for high-speed rail would account for VNĐ561 trillion ($24.3 million).

The consultant unit would calculate the investment for a high-speed railway, with a speed of 350kph for two north-south routes of Hà Nội-Vinh and HCM City-Nha Trang, with a length of 651km.

By 2050, the transport sector would continue to invest in high-speed rail on the Vinh-Nha Trang, Lào Cai-Hà Nội-Hải Phòng, Dĩ An-Lộc Ninh and Tháp Chàm-Đà Lạt routes, and then would expand to other routes nationwide.

Minh said that the Government has assigned the Ministry of Transport and is completing a project to build a high-speed railway system to submit to the National Assembly for approval.

Due to huge investment, Director of the Department of Corporate Finance under the Ministry of Finance Đặng Quyết Tiến said the State’s resources remained limited, so there was a need for different investment approaches.

“Choosing which route as a pilot must be calculated carefully. As for the capital source, once it is put into the public investment programme, there will be many ways to mobilise capital from the budget such as borrowing ODA capital or issuing government bonds,” he said.

“In the short term, there may be limited resources, but in the future, these projects must be taken into account in order to base the motivation to mobilise investment resources,” he said.

High-speed railway construction has always caused concerns and debate after it was proposed in the first place more than ten years ago. Three high-speed routes are currently under study or have been proposed: north-south, HCM City-Cần Thơ and Hà Nội-Lạng Sơn. — VNS