By Liu Gang and Yang Xun from People’s Daily
Hanoi will soon unveil Vietnam’s first ever metropolitan rail line, a China built and invested project which will link the city’s downtown Cat Linh Street and Hadong district.
The 13-kilometer-long Cat Linh-Hadong urban train project is constructed by the 6th bureau of the China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC). The first carriage of the test train for the elevated metro line was hoisted onto the tracks at one of the stations.
Bidding for communication signals and power supply has ended, and the locomotives will be tested in the second half of the year when the power kicks in.
As the first urban railway in Vietnam, the line entirely uses Chinese technology and standards. The hoisting of the first carriages onto the line indicates that this high-profile project is gathering pace.
The railway, as a major cooperation program between China and Vietnam, is expected to be the first operational metro rail in the country. There will be 12 elevated stations and one train depot on the line.
The project has garnered great interest in Vietnam, and when the initial design was revealed in 2015 to the public, thousands of people offered feedback.
The public in Hanoi are counting the days before the railway operates. “I only saw a metro rail on TV before. When the route opens, I will be the first group of passengers to experience the convenient and green transportation,” Bui Hai Nam, who lives around the La Khe Station, told the People’s Daily.
As the city’s urbanization speeds up, Hanoi, with a population of 8 million, faces severe traffic congestion, which has significant influence on its economic development and people’s daily lives. Local people hope that sky train will ease the situation.
The diligence and perseverance of Chinese builders have impressed the Vietnamese side. Doan Van Dung, an engineer with the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport, said that the professionalism and fighting spirit of Chinese technicians is admirable.
Pic
Technicians prepare for the lifting of a China-made train carriage onto the elevated tracks of the first urban rail line in Hanoi, Vietnam. (Photo by Liu Gang from People’s Daily)
The 13-kilometer-long Cat Linh-Hadong urban train project is constructed by the 6th bureau of the China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC). The first carriage of the test train for the elevated metro line was hoisted onto the tracks at one of the stations.
Bidding for communication signals and power supply has ended, and the locomotives will be tested in the second half of the year when the power kicks in.
As the first urban railway in Vietnam, the line entirely uses Chinese technology and standards. The hoisting of the first carriages onto the line indicates that this high-profile project is gathering pace.
The railway, as a major cooperation program between China and Vietnam, is expected to be the first operational metro rail in the country. There will be 12 elevated stations and one train depot on the line.
The project has garnered great interest in Vietnam, and when the initial design was revealed in 2015 to the public, thousands of people offered feedback.
The public in Hanoi are counting the days before the railway operates. “I only saw a metro rail on TV before. When the route opens, I will be the first group of passengers to experience the convenient and green transportation,” Bui Hai Nam, who lives around the La Khe Station, told the People’s Daily.
As the city’s urbanization speeds up, Hanoi, with a population of 8 million, faces severe traffic congestion, which has significant influence on its economic development and people’s daily lives. Local people hope that sky train will ease the situation.
The diligence and perseverance of Chinese builders have impressed the Vietnamese side. Doan Van Dung, an engineer with the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport, said that the professionalism and fighting spirit of Chinese technicians is admirable.
Pic
Technicians prepare for the lifting of a China-made train carriage onto the elevated tracks of the first urban rail line in Hanoi, Vietnam. (Photo by Liu Gang from People’s Daily)