Passengers get on a train at Nha Trang railway station. Maintenance work on the Hanoi-HCMC railway requires nearly VND2 trillion in investment. (Photo: Le Anh)
The Railway Project Management Unit, under the ministry, was assigned to conduct a feasibility study (FS) for the project. Procedures to complete the FS and execute the project are scheduled for completion in October this year, and work on the project will start in April next year.
As for the 25 bridges whose designs were approved, they will undergo maintenance in January 2020, scheduled for completion in 2021.
The railway’s overall restoration may be time-consuming as there are a total of 133 bridges on the whole rail route, running through 15 provinces and cities. In addition, it requires careful execution to ensure the safe operation of trains managed by Vietnam Railways.
Of the given capital, over VND40 billion will be disbursed for preparation work, including design and site clearance.
This is one of 14 crucial traffic projects in the country approved by the National Assembly’s (NA) Standing Committee to use VND15 trillion from a backup fund, which was set up in the 2016-2020 medium-term public investment plan mandated by a July 2018 resolution of the committee.
According to the resolution, the local railway sector was allowed to use VND7 trillion of the total VND15 trillion to renovate railway facilities, including rehabilitating 111 deteriorating bridges and 11 weak tunnels and building over 33 kilometers of fencing, for the Hanoi-Vinh, Vinh-Nha Trang and Nha Trang-Saigon rail routes.
