Hanoi is planning to start the construction of three new urban railways by 2025, running from Van Cao to Hoa Lac, Hanoi Station to Hoang Mai, and Yen Vien to Ngoc Hoi.
Railway line No. 5 will run from Van Cao street in Lieu Giai ward (Ba Dinh district) and Thuy Khue ward (Tay Ho district) to the Hoa Lac area in Thach That district.
Line No. 3 will begin at Hanoi Station in Dong Da district and run to Hoang Mai district, while line No. 1 will run from Yen Vien commune (Gia Lam district) to Ngoc Hoi street (Thanh Tri district).
The proposal is part of the city’s efforts to boost public transport under its urban development plan for 2021-2025, said Nguyen Phi Thuong, director of the municipal Department of Transport.
The city is also looking at other urban railway routes from 2025-2030, while pushing the progress of the delayed Nhon-Hanoi Station line, he added.
The No.5 and No.3 routes will receive investments from the city, while the No.1 route will be paid for by the Ministry of Transport.
Thuong noted the difficulties Hanoi has faced in developing public transport, including the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the growing number of personal vehicles, the slow relocation of major universities, hospitals and offices to designated areas, and high population growth, while land allocated for transport infrastructure development has only grown 0.2-0.3% annually.
Hanoi started commercial operations of its first metro line running 13 kilometers from Cat Linh to Ha Dong in December 2021. It served 2.65 million passengers in the first quarter of this year, up 262% year-on-year. As of April 13, the line had transported 3.98 million people with an average distance of 8.1 kilometers per person, according to the railway management board.
Work on the overground section of the 12.5-kilometer Nhon-Hanoi Station route is nearly complete, and test runs are scheduled in May and June. The city plans to open the 8.5-kilometer overground section this August, while full operation of the underground section is expected in 2027.
Hanoi's transport network carried 119.6 million people in the first four months of 2023, up 23% year-on-year, according to the municipal statistics office.
Vietnam has invested VND66.01 trillion ($2.76 billion) into metro systems in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City over the past decade, but only the Cat Linh-Ha Dong line in the capital city has opened to commuters.
In a draft report on railway investments funded by the state budget, the Ministry of Transport noted that metro projects in Hanoi and HCMC are progressing slowly and need more capital.
Hanoi is set to build 10 routes totaling 410 kilometers with an investment of VND36.6 trillion ($1.53 billion), while HCMC targets to build eight lines with a total length of 173 kilometers and investment of VND29.41 trillion ($1.25 billion).