Operation of the Nanning Urban Railway

However, even if the entire line is completed in 2027 as recently proposed by the Hanoi Municipal Committee, the Hanoi Pilot Urban Railway Construction Project (HIPC) has still set a record of slow progress when it took more than 18 years to implement with multiple extensions, increasing the total investment.

Compared to a person's lifetime, this is the length of time from when a child is born until he reaches adulthood. During that precious period, the Hanoi Metro Pilot Urban Railway Construction Project and many urban railway projects are struggling to be implemented in Hanoi and TP. HCM City has missed an opportunity to contribute to the development of public transportation systems, reducing congestion in the country's two largest cities.

There are many reasons given for this delay. The biggest reason, perhaps, is due to the scale and complexity of urban railway projects, while the capacity and experience of investors in both localities was limited, there were no management practices yet, operating large-scale projects that had economic This is also a common stumbling block for countries in the early stages of urban railway development.

Nevertheless, even after sharing and understanding the difficulties faced by the two cities' governments as investors, a period of 15 to 20 years for completing an urban railway is still too long, difficult to accept in the near future.

It should be added that, Conclusion No. 49-KL/TW dated 28/02/2023 of the Ministry Politically On the orientation of Vietnam's rail transport development by 2030, a vision for 2045 has been defined to complete an urban railway network in HCM City (connecting with the Capital Region) and HCMC by 2035.

To be able to approach the aforementioned goal, within the next 10 years, Hanoi will have to complete construction works, put into operation about 301/397. 8 km (about 76% of the total length of urban railway lines); by 2045 it will complete adjusted and supplementary urban railways in accordance with the Capital Regulation and General Capital Planning.

In Ho Chi Minh City, by 2035, local governments must complete about 183 km of urban railway, and by 2045 another 168 km is to be completed, bringing the total overall length of urban railways to approximately 351. 08 km.

This underscores the urgent need for a new way of thinking, an innovative approach to urban rail development. It's not just about raising hundreds of billions of dollars in capital; it's identifying appropriate investment routes, but also effective implementation methods so that one year equals 20 years of previous investments.

The overall investment project to build an urban railway system in Hanoi and HCM City by 2035 is being coordinated with the Ministry of Transportation - Urgent completion with many breakthrough mechanisms for submission to competent approval. However, besides drawing conclusions from twenty years of practical development of urban railways, for the overall proposal to be feasible, the construction process needs to be very serious, thorough, comprehensive and meticulous.

These are the necessary and sufficient conditions for urban railroads to really take off, similar to the opening of highway routes that we've had very remarkable early results on in the last two or three years.