High-speed railway will only take a maximum of 6.6 hours to travel North-South

In addition to planning station locations to ensure appropriate distances, the North-South high-speed railway route design was studied and selected as the "shortest possible", organizing train operations at all stations, so that trains are not limited in operating speed, affecting optimal time and ensuring attracting transportation demand.

No mining speed limit

According to the project's pre-feasibility study report, under normal conditions, the consultant proposed to organize train operations mainly for passenger transport, including: trains stopping at only 5 main stations (Ngoc Hoi, Vinh, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Thu Thiem), the North-South travel time is about 5.3 hours. Trains stopping at 23 stations, the North-South travel time is about 6.6 hours.

This time includes the train stopping time at each station of about 2 minutes, similar to other countries operating high-speed railways in the world. The operation plan will be adjusted to suit the transportation needs at each time and the service objects, ensuring the effective exploitation of the infrastructure system, serving national defense and security.

The principle of station arrangement is to ensure appropriate distance to effectively exploit infrastructure and vehicles (ensure acceleration and deceleration distance). According to calculations, the distance is enough for the train from departure to reaching the maximum operating speed of 320km/h and decelerating to stop is about 16.5km.

The station location in the project has been agreed upon by the localities and is consistent with provincial planning; it has the ability to connect the stations with urban centers by road systems and convenient public transport systems.

To improve operational efficiency, the project's pre-feasibility study report proposes a distance of about 50-70km between two adjacent stations, and trains are organized to stop at all stations, so the actual stopping distance between two stations is about 100-140km. Therefore, the train is not limited in operating speed, affecting the optimal time and ensuring the attraction of transport demand.

In the feasibility study report preparation step, the Ministry of Transport will direct consultants to continue surveying, investigating, and forecasting transportation demand as a basis for calculating, determining the scale, technical standards, and investment plans for stations to ensure suitability, efficiency, and feasibility.

Mandatory commitment to technology transfer

Drawing on experience from the urban railway projects that have been implemented, in order to meet the project's progress of basic completion in 2035, the Government has directed research and proposed a number of solutions in the pre-feasibility study report, including: focusing on implementing related work, implementing site clearance from 2026, and implementing the construction of resettlement areas serving the project in advance.

The leader of the Ministry of Transport said that in the pre-feasibility study report, it initially proposed some contents and a roadmap for receiving technology transfer of the project, and at the same time, there were constraints to connect foreign contractors with domestic units to construct the North-South high-speed railway project.

Accordingly, contractors and general contractors must commit to transferring technology to Vietnamese partners to ensure the goal of industrial development orientation by 2045: mastering the construction industry; domestic assembly and gradually localizing vehicles for national railways and urban railways; domestic production and gradually localizing hardware and software components for information, signals and power supply systems; mastering all operations, maintenance and repair work for high-speed railways.

In addition, the project technology will be transferred through joint ventures, associations, consortia and signing of contracts for the supply of products and services between domestic enterprises and international contractors for consulting services on design, supervision, and construction of high-speed railway infrastructure; supply of labor, supplies, and materials for railway construction; transferred through the establishment of enterprises in Vietnam to assemble, maintain, and repair locomotives, carriages, information systems, and high-speed railway signals; transferred through ordering processing or partial production of hardware and software for train dispatching, station management and operation systems, ticket systems, etc.

The draft resolution has a policy regulating the priority use of products, goods and services that can be produced and supplied domestically. The Ministry of Transport will specify this in the bidding criteria.