On March 18, the representative of the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam stated that in the final report of the draft railway planning period for 2021-2030, with 2050 as the target, the consulting department calculated the investment plan for the express railway. The section (350 km/h) between Hanoi and Vinh City and Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang is 651 km long. In addition to high-speed railways, 7 new railway lines will be built at this stage and the old lines will be improved.

By 2050, the transportation sector will continue to invest in the Vinh-Nha Trang section of the high-speed railway and build new routes such as Lao Cai-Hanoi-Hai Phong, Dean-Lu Ninh, Ta Cham-Da Lat. At the same time, study the railway section Nam Dinh-Taiping-Hai Phong-Halong, Danong-Binthuan, Tu Ho-Boon Matut, Can T-Ka Mao...

The former Deputy Minister of Transport, Professor La Ngoc Khue, said when evaluating the aforementioned draft railway plan that in order to ensure that the set goals are achieved, major and urgent tasks must be selected. By 2035, it is necessary to invest in a standard railway on the national axis, namely Langshan-Nen Van-En Hai-Ho Chi Minh City-Can T double track with a maximum speed of 140 km/h. Especially after 2035, the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City part will be upgraded to a high-speed railway with a maximum speed of 250 kilometers per hour.

Determine direction and make investment plan at each stage

Dr. Dang Huy Dong, director of the Institute of Planning and Development, also stated that the price of high-speed trains (350 km/h) must be lower than air tickets in order to compete with railways. According to Japan’s experience, high-speed trains have not yet refunded their investment capital, and even certain fare routes do not have sufficient operating costs. At the same time, for high-speed trains (150 km/h), the government must compensate for less losses.

Mr. Dong said that the high-speed rail investment plan to run passenger trains at speeds of 150 km/h and 100 km/h has brought higher socio-economic benefits, and the possibility of compensating for losses in the budget and subsidies is much lower.

At the meeting on March 16, Transport Minister Nguyen Van The asked the consultant to clarify in the draft plan the content of the need to invest in the construction of the North-South high-speed railway. Clearly analyze the demand forecast and compare it with the capacity and transportation distance of other vehicles in the same corridor.

According to the draft railway plan for 2021-2030, looking forward to 2050, the railway industry’s goal is to meet the transportation demand of 16.50 million tons of cargo and 30.9 million passengers by 2030; and to transport 15% of cargo and 19% of passengers by 2050.

By 2030, the investment capital demand for railway projects is expected to exceed 665 billion VND. Among them, the investment in high-speed railways is VND 56.1 trillion, and the rest is the transformation and investment in 7 new railway lines. The investment capital requirement from 2030 to 2050 is 1,534 billion VND, of which high-speed rail is VND 77,200 billion. Editor/Xu Shengpeng