MOT has cooperated with the General Statistics Office (GSO) to assess possible impacts of the North-South high-speed railway on the national economy. The agencies estimated that the project may contribute one percentage point to the country’s GDP each year in the 2025-2037 period.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) and relevant ministries have sketched out a plan on capital arrangement and assessed the impact on public debts.

According to Deputy Minister of MOT Nguyen Danh Huy, there are difficulties in implementing the project.

First, national key railway projects have large scale and require complicated technical standards. They go through many localities, and it is necessary to prepare carefully for the projects, and it requires close coordination among ministries, branches and localities.

Second, railway projects bring high economic efficiency, but the financial output of the projects are not high. Therefore, the state budget needs to play the leading role and the state needs to prioritize resources for investment.

Third, the domestic railway industry cannot produce many kinds of equipment, components and accessories needed.

Meanwhile, the labor force still cannot approach modern management and techniques, and Vietnam lacks experts in railways.

Tran Chung, chair of the Vietnam Association of Road Traffic Investors’ (VARSI), advocates developing the North-South Railway with speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

Saying that Vietnam needs to anticipate rapid development in the future, Chung said Vietnam has experience in moving forward to advanced technologies, bypassing the transitional period in telecommunication and IT industry many years ago. The move forward then led to a breakthrough with the establishment of many large technology firms.

Chung said that building high-speed railways (350 kilometers per hour) is part of a plan towards ‘net-zero emissions’ goal by 2050.

The high speed will help railways compete with airways. With the speed of 350 kilometers per hour, it will take only 5.5 hours to travel from Hanoi to HCM City.

MOT has consulted ministries and branches on three high-speed North-South railway options.

With option 1, the railway will be 1,545 kilometers, used for passenger transport, and have speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

With option 2, the speed will be 200-250 kilometers per hour, and used for both passenger and cargo transport.

With option 3, the speed will be 350 kilometers per hour, and be mostly used for passenger transport.

Vu Diep