VIETNAM Railways (VNR) is seeking to invest Dong 4.6 trillion ($US 202m) in new locomotives and rolling stock by 2020, according to a proposal submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Transport.
The procurement encompasses 100 diesel locomotives, 150 coaches, and 800 wagons, including 300 container wagons.
VNR says it plans to finance the programme using a loan worth around Dong 3.2 trillion from the Vietnam Development Bank, with the remaining Dong 1.4 trillion coming from its own budget.
The amended 2017 Railway Law gives VNR access to preferential credit from the state or government guaranteed loans. However, this legislation will not come into effect until July 2018, and VNR is therefore seeking government approval of a loan from the Vietnam Development Bank to ensure it can move forward with its procurement plans.
Vietnam is once again talking about a high-speed train linking Hanoi in the north with Ho Chi Min City (HCMC) in the south. However, by the time the North-South express railway is complete very few of todays lawmakers are likely to be alive to wave off the first train.
First mooted following a visit to Japan by then Vietnam prime minister, Nguyễn Tấn Dũng in 2006, during which official development assistance (ODA) was promised for the project, plans for the Vietnam high-speed train were axed in 2010 when the expected $33 billion cost for the project came in at $56 billion.
Originally envisaged to be constructed over a six year period, the planned 1,630 kilometre (about 1,010 mile) route would have been 70 per cent funded by the Vietnam government, mostly through Japanese ODA, with the state-run Vietnam Railways picking up the balance of the tab.
Japan first offered ODA for the North-South Vietnam express railway to former prime minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc in 2006, but the project was deemed too expensive in 2010
Eight years after baulking at the $56 billion price tag, Vietnam is once again considering a Vietnam high-speed train connecting the north to the south.
Last November Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc announced that the Ministry of Transports (MoTs) final plan for the North-South express railway will be submitted to the 496-member National Assembly (NA) for consideration in 2019, which deputy minister Nguyen Ngoc Dong confirmed in January.
According to local media reports the latest proposal will see the North-South express railway route reduced to some 1,570-kilometres (980 miles) and come with an estimated $55.85 billion price tag. Given the projects past it is difficult to see how that is a realistic figure. The MoT did not respond to requests for a current estimate of the projects cost.
Comprising a double-track standard gauge (1,435mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)) line, the Vietnam high-speed train will have a design speed of 300 km/h (186m/ph) and utilise Japans Shinkansen (bullet train) technology to cut the journey time between the two cities from the current 30 hours to less than seven hours.
No Fast Track For Vietnam High-Speed Train
However, the Shinkansen will be the only fast thing about the Vietnam high-speed train project. The entire North-South express railway is not expected to be completed until 2050.
If the NA approves the Vietnam high-speed train it is thought that the original 2010 concept of two segments, one in the north and the other in the south, will be constructed between 2020 and 2030. The bit in the middle connecting HCMC and Hanoi will not be completed for 20 years after that.
It is expected that the Shinkansen train to run on the North-South Vietnam express railway will reach speeds of 350 k/ph (217m/ph)
The initial 2010 proposal envisaged construction on a 295-kilometre (183-mile) HanoiVinh section commencing first, followed five years later with commencement of a 362-kilometre (225 mile) section from Ho Chi Minh CityNha Trang. The 993-kilometre (567 mile) VinhNha Trang section was scheduled to commence five years later.
If Vietnam lawmakers had bot baulked at the price, Vietnam would be close to completing the entire project now, with two high-speed sections already operating.
In addition to the project cost, albeit with most offset by Japanese ODA, is the energy requirements to run the train.
Operating since 1964 in Japan, the Shinkansen (lit. New Trunk Line) technology requires a 25kV AC overhead power supply.
A net importer of electricity since 2015, the Vietnam Energy Outlook Report 2017 by the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) forecasts Vietnam electricity demand through natural growth to increase by 8 per cent annually on average until 2035, after having grown at 9.5 per cent/ year between 2001 and 2015.
To meet this demand it says an additional 93 GW of power generating capacity is needed, with half to come from coal-fired power plants, and 25 per cent from renewable energy.
Hold The train. Metros Yet to Come Online
While Vietnamese wait to see if their government will fund the slow evolution of a North-South express railway, work is progressing on Ho Chi Minh City Metro and the Ha Noi metro, though at no alarming breakneck speed.
Originally proposed in 2001 and under construction since 2008, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) managed and 83 per cent Japanese ODA funded first 19.7-kilometre (12.25-mile) section of the HCMC Metro is not expected to open until 2020, after plans for a 2014, and subsequent to that a 2018, opening were shunted into a siding.
In the north of the country Hanois first metro line is also creeping along, with the early 2018 forecast that came after the scheduled December 2016 deadline went whooshing past looking increasingly unlikely, as too is the unofficial suggested November 2018 date.
Meanwhile HCMC is waiting for approval from the MoT, Prime Minister, and NA for an almost $5 million, 200k/ph (124m/ph) double-track, wide-gauge line connecting it with the Mekong delta capital of Can Tho almost 200-kilometres (124-miles) away, after having signed an MoU with Canadas MorFund Financial Inc., to source funding for the proposed public private partnership (PPP) project.
Vietnam is planning to build a new higher speed rail route connecting the capital city of Hanoi to the northern border with China to boost two-way trade.
vietnam plans to build faster railway to china border hinh 0 According the project plans, the 391 kilometre railway linking Hai Phong city, Hanoi and Lao Cai province will have the global standard track gauge of 1,435mm instead of century-old gauge of 1,000mm common in Vietnam. The average speed for passenger trains can reach 160km per hour while the freight ones will run at about 90km per hour.
During a recent meeting on the planning for the new railway, which will run in parallel with the existing slow one with an average speed of 50km per hour, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong said that it would play a key role in the socio-economic development of the localities it runs through, including Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc, Hanoi, Hung Yen, Hai Duong and the port city of Hai Phong.
It was also expected to improve Vietnams international transport connectivity and trade activity, particularly with China, he said, adding that the railway will draw more Vietnamese exports to China, or they may be transported there before leaving for Central Asia or Europe and vice versa.
The State-owned Beijing-based China Railway Fifth Survey and Design Institute Group was the consultant unit to map the planning of the rail route. They were also asked to look into the possibility of connecting the rail tracks in Lao Cai with those on the other side of the border in Chinas Hekou County.
Vietnam Railways Deputy General Director Phan Quoc Anh said that the difference in track gauge remained a major barrier to rail transport between Vietnam and China.
According to Anh, most of Chinas railways were built with the standard track gauge and only a number of short-range railways near the Vietnamese border had the 1,000mm gauge tracks.
Vietnamese products delivered to China on trains could only reach the Shanyan train station in the border area of Hekou, or slightly further at the Shilicun station in Yunnan at most before they were forced to load off and on again to bigger wagons. That was the only way the goods could go deeper into China to access a wider market.
Dong said that the Ministry of Transport was proactively negotiating with China to finalise plans to connect the two sides rail tracks so that the construction could start as soon as possible.
Vice Chairman of the Peoples Committee of Lao Cai province Nguyen Thanh Duong said that the province is set to sign a cooperation agreement with Hai Phong and Yunnan to promote cargo transport this May.
With the new rail route in the planning stages, the opportunity to raise the freight volume between the three localities was huge, he said, adding that a connection of rail tracks between Vietnam and China will not only increase the freight transport but the passenger transport also.
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