Hanoi's second metro line to partly come operational in April 2021

After four years of delay due to funding shortage, the elevated section of Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station metro train will be put into operation in April 2021, local media quoted a representative from the Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Board (MRB) as saying.

The representative said that the project’s first 8.5 km of the elevated track will be inaugurated in April 2021, then 4 km of the underground section will be completed in December 2022 and the entire line is expected to become operational by that time.

The MRB is urging the French contractor to speed up work so that the trains can start running in April 2021 on the elevated track which is 99.52% complete, and the entire package will be concluded in December 2019.

According to observations in the field, Posco, the Korean contractor, is installing the roof of the elevated stations while the stairs and the elevators are expected to be built soon. 

MRB said that the elevators and interior equipment have been imported and which are waiting to be installed. The board last month began moving and cutting down trees near Hanoi Railway Station in the downtown to clear ground for executing the construction of an underground station.

The Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station route, the capital’s second metro line after Cat Linh-Ha Dong route, would run 12.5 kilometers from the Nhon area in the western district of Nam Tu Liem, via Kim Ma Street to Hanoi Railway Station on Le Duan street, including 8.5 kilometers on elevated track through eight stations and the remaining four kilometers underground. The underground track construction is scheduled to be complete in 2022.

First train for second Hanoi metro to arrive in July 2020

According to MRB's plan, the Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station metro line will receive its first of 10 trains from France next July to meet the progress of the elevated section construction in April 2021.

The aluminum-alloy trains are built to European standards. Each train of 80-100 meters long and up to 3 meters wide will have four or five cars. Handles for standees will be designed to match Vietnamese people’s height.

The trains will cost almost VND3 trillion (US$129 million), including fees for consulting, designing and assembling. The total cost of the line has amounted to VND7.7 trillion (US$331 million) including VND4.7 trillion (US$202 million) on rail track and train depots construction.

In Vietnam, the train will be running at a trial basis for at least six months.

Hanoi’s first metro line, connecting Cat Linh Station in downtown Dong Da district to Yen Nghia Station in Ha Dong district, is said to be 99% complete, but has missed the inauguration deadline several times.

The Cat Linh-Ha Dong project receives Chinese official development assistance (ODA).