Mai tien dung

The project investor, HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), said Thursday that the two three-car trains would be shipped from Japan’s railway system factory Kasado Works on May 1 and reach HCMC in nine days.

Three to four days later, the trains would be delivered to the Long Binh Depot in Thu Duc City.

Two of the four six-car trains would be shipped by June and the remaining two by July. The exact delivery dates may change due to variables like weather conditions or congestion at the port, the investor said.

After the trains are delivered to the Long Binh Depot, Japanese contractor Hitachi would install five of them on the T1 railway, while the sixth one will be installed on a different track, the MAUR said, without elaborating.

The first three-car train arrived in HCMC last October and has been installed on the T1 railway.

As originally planned, trial runs for the trains should begin in this year’s fourth quarter. Within the same time frame, other tasks like operations, personnel training and technology transfer would also be in progress.

Hoang Mai Tung, coordinating engineer for the Metro Line 1 project, said train operations in the future would be handled automatically with a communications-based train control (CBTC) system. The system would help locate the exact location of the trains better than traditional signal systems, he said. It would automatically adjust the trains’ speed, opening and closing doors, as well as the amount of time trains stop at stations.

“This technology will help manage and operate the metro line more effectively and safely than several other methods. However, in the first years of operation, the trains should still have a driver to respond to various situations in order to maintain safety at the highest level,” Tung said.

HCMC’s first metro line, running from Ben Thanh Market in District 1 to the Suoi Tien theme park in Thu Duc, will have a total of 17 trains, starting with three-car trains before moving onto the six-car ones. Each three-car train would be 61.5 meters long with a capacity of 930 passengers. The trains are expected to run at an average speed of 40 kph.

The first metro line has a total investment cost of over VND43.7 trillion ($1.89 billion). It runs nearly 20 km with three underground and 11 elevated stations. The project is 83 percent complete, and is expected to be launched next year.

The city People’s Council at a meeting Thursday approved the investment policy for two projects, one to develop An Phu Intersection in Thu Duc City to tackle chronic traffic jams in the area, and the other to renovate Tham Luong-Ben Cat-Nuoc Len Canal to mitigate urban flooding and improve waterway transport.

As approved, the two projects would be carried out using the state budget allocated by the government and counter capital of the city.

Estimated to cost VND3.926 trillion ($170.4 million), An Phu Intersection will be developed using VND1.8 trillion from the central budget, and the rest from the city to stop frequent traffic jams at the intersection, which connects Mai Chi Tho Street in District 2 and HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway, a major link between the city and neighboring Dong Nai Province.

The intersection, as designed, will have three levels – a tunnel linking the expressway with Mai Chi Tho Street and two overpasses. Once complete, it is also expected to boost connectivity to the expressway, which the Transport Ministry would widen from the current four to eight or 10 lanes.

Renovation of the Tham Luong-Ben Cat-Nuoc Len canal system is calculated to cost VND8.2 trillion ($356 million), including VND6.4 trillion for dredging and upgrades, VND718 billion for acquiring and clearing land and the rest for incidental expenses.

The central state budget will offer VND4 trillion for the canal project and HCMC the rest.

Upgrades will include items to build concrete embankments and roads that run 33 kilometers (20.5 miles) along the canal, dredging the entire water body, rebuilding or repairing sewer systems, and building 12 docks.

It would improve drainage and prevent flooding in the seven districts of 12, Binh Tan, Tan Phu, Tan Binh, Go Vap, Binh Thanh, and Binh Chanh, and would also help improve waterway transport between HCMC and the Mekong Delta as well as two of its neighboring provinces, Binh Duong and Dong Nai, easing traffic jams on a number of highways.

Both projects will be carried out in the 2021-2025 period.

The city’s executive body, or People’s Committee, had last year written to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, asking for the state fund to support the two projects, the government having recently given the nod.

HCMC, home to 13 million people, has struggled with heavy traffic congestion and severe flooding for decades.

The artworks, created with materials like charcoal, ink, pastels, crayons, watercolors on paper sized from A4 to A0, and 10 sets of ceramic sculptures, are on display at the “Strokes and Shapes: Nguyen Duong Dinh” exhibition in Hanoi from April 18 to 22.

These 80 works were created from 2017 to 2021, using models from a wide range of different nationalities, allowing for a diversity of bodily shapes, skin color, and postures.

Artwork at the exhibition. Photo courtesy of organizers.

A majority of the works were selected from Dinh’s collection of drawings in the Hanoi Live Drawing Society – an open space for live sketching lovers.

His ceramic sculptures represent the artist’s thoughts and feelings about humanity, and global society during the Covid-19 pandemic in the last 12 months.

Dinh has a fast-paced sketching technique that can accurately record shape, space and body features from various angles, creating emotionally-charged works.

According to artist Dang Tien, Dinh’s sketches are different from that of his counterparts since they are artworks that capture daily life.

Artist Le Thiet Cuong agreed, saying Dinh’s sketches are truly exceptional.

Born in 1957 in Hanoi, Vietnam, Nguyen Duong Dinh (Inh Guyen, INH) obtained a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design at Hanoi University of Industrial Fine Arts (1982), and a master’s degree in Visual Arts (2005) at Vietnam University of Fine Arts.

His painting “Systematic Composition” is preserved in Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum.

“Strokes and Shapes: Nguyen Duong Dinh” exhibition is held at the Hanoi Center of Fine Arts and Photography Exhibition and Authentication, 29 Hang Bai Street, Hanoi.

Doctors at a hospital in Vietnam have managed to remove an 8kg ovarian tumor from the abdomen of a woman who had refused to undergo surgery when the tumor was first detected over four years ago.

N.T.H., 27, revisited Xuyen A General Hospital, located in southern Tay Ninh Province, recently because the tumor doctors had found in her right ovary had grown to the point that it occupied her entire abdomen, Dr. Ho Tien Duy, head of the hospital’s general surgery department, said on Wednesday.

H. was hospitalized with throbbing pain in her abdomen and lumbar spine, as well as difficulty breathing, Dr. Duy added.

After a two-hour surgery, hospital doctors announced that they had successfully removed the tumor, weighing 8kg, from H.’s abdomen.

Four years ago, the patient first came to Xuyen A General Hospital to undergo clinical tests for a family planning method, Dr. Duy recounted.

Hospital doctors detected her tumor, the size of an orange at that time, so they advised H. to have a surgery to remove it.

H. and her family opted for folk treatment instead, as she was breastfeeding her first child then.

Ovarian tumors are common among young women, according to Dr. Bui Chi Viet, professional director of Xuyen A General Hospital.

The majority of these tumors are benign, with surgery to remove them being the only solution.

Some ovarian tumors, however, are malignant, requiring close coordination between radical surgical methods with chemotherapy after surgery to prevent recurrence and helping improve the quality of post-surgery life for the sick.

Dr. Viet recommended that patients quickly consult a specialist for prompt advice and treatment once any abnormal change is detected in their body, be it benign or malignant.

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