The landslide at Bai Gio tunnel has disrupted transportation from Song Than in Di An City, Binh Duong for the past week. Many 30-ton train cars are stuck on the tracks at the country's largest freight station. Some companies have spent a lot of money hiring tractors to transport goods by road to deliver on time and avoid damage.

Brotex Co., Ltd. yesterday had to rush to load hundreds of cartons containing fiber and glue onto a 40-foot container truck to Hanoi after being stuck for nearly a week. The company representative said the disruption of the railway made the unit passive in finding alternative means of transport when the order had been finalized and the delivery time had been planned. Since April 10, the company has loaded goods onto two train cars at Song Than station to transport to the North for export but has been stuck until now.

Also due to the disruption of the railway, dozens of tons of goods including agricultural products, engines, and machinery of Nam Long Railway Freight Company are stuck at two stations at the beginning of the line, Song Than and Giap Bat (Hanoi). Mr. Nguyen Long, Director of the company, said that because the company receives a lot of goods from many places, the company still has to bring them to the station to gather, waiting for the railway to be reopened. However, some items cannot be kept for long, so the company has to hire container trucks to transport them on time. This not only disrupts the company's operations but also increases costs.

According to Mr. Long, renting a 75 m3 container costs nearly 25 million VND, tens of millions VND higher than a freight train. If the goods are heavy, the price of transporting goods by container truck is based on the weight, so the difference is even greater. "The change from transporting goods from ships to cars makes the company deliver less goods at a higher cost than before," he said, adding that the process of delivering goods by container truck also has many risks, the goods are easily damaged, and the company has to pay compensation of billions of VND.

Mr. Tran Duc Loi, Head of the Southern Railway Transport Branch (one of three freight transport units at Song Than station), said that since the landslide incident, the unit's four freight trains at the station have been unable to depart. In addition, five trains heading to Nha Trang were forced to return to the station. This has caused nearly 5,000 tons of cargo to be backlogged.

According to him, in the past week, the branch had 22 trains, each with 20 carriages, expected to transport nearly 12,000 tons of goods, that had to stop operating, causing a loss of nearly 10 billion VND in freight. "To clear the congestion, the station is supporting businesses to unload goods from carriages and switch to transport by road and sea," said Mr. Loi, adding that the unit is supporting cargo owners to clear inventory until the problem is resolved, expected on April 22.

Mr. Chu Ngoc Huan, Deputy Director of Song Than Railway Transport Branch (under Saigon Railway Transport Joint Stock Company), said that the landslide at Bai Gio tunnel has greatly affected the transportation of goods, disrupting the supply on the North-South railway line. Since the incident occurred on April 12, Song Than station has stopped all incoming and outgoing freight trains. The backlog falls into the amount of goods that had been planned for transportation in advance.

According to Mr. Huan, at the station there are currently 83 train cars lined up since April 12, of which 63 have been ordered but are waiting. On average, each car holds about 25 tons of goods. Many companies have urgent delivery times and cannot wait, so about 30 cars have been unloaded and transported by other means.

In addition to the amount of goods remaining at Song Than station, Mr. Huan said that from the north and south, there are currently 4 freight trains with about 80 cars whose schedules have been interrupted due to the incident. These trains are currently at Hue; Chi Thanh (Phu Yen); Phu Cat, Phu My (Binh Dinh) stations. "Saigon Railway Transport Joint Stock Company is working directly with each shipping unit, supporting loading and unloading via other means when needed," Mr. Huan said.

Bai Gio Tunnel in Dai Lanh Commune, Van Ninh District, Khanh Hoa, is more than 400 m long, 5 m high, 4 m wide, built by the French in 1930, and put into operation in 1936. After nearly 10 days with three landslides, the tunnel has not been cleared, causing congestion for passenger and cargo transportation. Currently, north-south trains depart from Hanoi and Saigon stations, when arriving at the problem area, passengers are transferred by road for a distance of more than 40 km.

According to Vietnam Railway Corporation, when the landslide in Bai Gio tunnel is fixed, to avoid a similar situation, the unit has proposed that the competent authority allocate capital to reinforce 12 weak tunnels on the North-South route, with an estimated cost of nearly 500 billion VND. Along with that is a plan to handle 27 weak tunnels on the entire railway line to ensure safety.

Dinh Van - Gia Minh