After 10 years of construction, the Cat Linh – Ha Dong railway will welcome passengers to take a free train from November 6, according to Vice Chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee Duong Duc Tuan.

The Ministry of Transport handed over to Hanoi city to manage and operate the Cat Linh – Ha Dong train from the above time. “The train will operate immediately after the handover ceremony, the first 15 days are completely free for all passengers,” Mr. Tuan said during an inspection on the evening of November 3.

Mr. Vu Hong Truong, Director of Hanoi Railway Company Limited, the unit that directly operates the station, said that the station staff will issue 0 dong cards to customers and collect them at the end of the day to count the number. Guests are also given a free train guidebook. After this time, the ticket price is expected to be 8,000 VND for the short route and 15,000 VND for the whole route.

The ticketing area is marked with a line to line up at a safe distance. Passengers entering and exiting stations must scan a QR code. Each station has an isolation room if a person suspected of being infected with Covid-19 is detected.

The railway line is 13 km long, the train takes 23 minutes if stopping at all 12 stations, the estimated stopping time of each station is 45 seconds. If the train runs from the starting point – Cat Linh station to the endpoint – Yen Nghia station and vice versa without stopping, the time will only take 13 minutes and there will be no problems due to running on a separate road.

There are 52 bus routes along this railway, with Cat Linh station alone having 16 bus lines. To help people conveniently connect buses with railways, Hanoi has added and adjusted many parking stops, built 14 more waiting houses, and arranged a personal parking service at the stations.

The city has agreed with the transport sector the first-year operation plan is divided into two phases. Specifically, in the first six months, there were 6 trains running, each 10 minutes apart. In which, 3 groups run without stopping at stations, to serve customers experience. In the next six months, there are 9 trains running, the time interval is still 10 minutes. The mining plan will now be adjusted based on the actual situation.

“The project has been prepared for a long time, there are difficulties and obstacles to overcome… Up to now, the city has received the maintenance, exploitation, and operation procedures, handling system safety issues. system to ensure absolute technical safety for the Cat Linh – Ha Dong railway line “, the city leader said.

As this is the first urban railway complex in Vietnam, the city has set up a special working group to handle urgent situations and organize multi-scenario drills.

In terms of human resources, in the first year, only 680 people were employed, out of an expected total of 733 people. Of which, more than 200 people are trained in China, the rest are trained in the country. 51 train drivers have been licensed under the provisions of the Railway Law.

The city also invested separately in a project to upgrade the traffic connection system with the Cat Linh – Ha Dong railway line.

The Hanoi Vice President hopes that the operational railway will help increase the rate of public passenger transport, along with nine other urban railway lines under construction, creating an important transport network that contributes to reducing internal congestion. dollar.

The Cat Linh – Ha Dong railway project (line 2A) is 13 km long, with a total initial investment in 2008 of VND 8,769 billion (equivalent to USD 552.8 million). By 2017, the total investment capital increased to 18,000 billion VND (about 868 million USD). The project uses loans from the Chinese government and domestic counterpart funds, many times having to adjust the schedule.

10 years of building Cat Linh – Ha Dong urban railway

HANOI – On October 6, the Cat Linh – Ha Dong railway project was handed over to the city by the Ministry of Transport, after 10 years of starting construction with many progress adjustments.

The project was approved in 2008 with a total length of 13 km, including 12 stations, with a maximum speed of 80 km/h. The initial plan was completed in 2013. Vietnam has signed a loan agreement with China under the Framework Agreement, the capital sponsor appoints the general contractor, China Railway 6 Group Co., Ltd., to perform under the contract. EPC contract (contract for design – supply of technological equipment and construction). The Government assigns the Ministry of Transport to be the investor.

In fact, it was not until October 2011 that the project started construction, the completion deadline was therefore postponed to 2015. Along with the Nhon urban railway line – Hanoi station, the Ministry of Transport, and Hanoi city period. It is hoped that the two projects will basically solve the congestion problem, achieve the goal of public transport to meet 35-45% of the travel needs of the people in the capital.

After the groundbreaking ceremony in the Ha Dong district, the project encountered problems with site clearance. Hanoi has to clear more than 100 hectares to build stations and maintenance areas. About 2,000 households in three districts of Dong Da, Thanh Xuan, and Ha Dong had to be relocated. Tens of kilometers of power lines, water supply, and drainage pipes, and telecommunications had to be moved. The cost of compensation, support, and resettlement of the project is up to 915 billion VND. Therefore, it was not until May 2015 that Hanoi handed over the entire site to the general contractor.

The actual implementation process also generated some shortcomings, forcing to change the design of the station from 2 to 3 floors, adding items to treat soft ground in the Depot area, adding items to bypass National Highway 6, adjusting Adjusting hull material from climate-resistant steel to stainless steel, adding training costs, technology transfer…

The Ministry of Transport assessed that the delay in site clearance, plus design changes and price slippage, increased the cost of compensation and clearance, increasing the cost of raw materials. Total project investment must be adjusted from 552 to 868 million USD, of which Chinese loan increased from 419 to 669 million USD, domestic counterpart capital increased from 133 to 199 million USD.

During the construction process, the contractor let some problems occur. On November 6, 2014, at the section of Nguyen Trai street, the construction unit was hoisting steel when the cable broke. The steel bar fell, killing one passerby on the spot and injuring two others.

After more than a month, at Ha Dong bus station, during the construction of the H7 pillar beam, the floor system, the scaffolding, and the concrete beam collapsed onto the road, crushing the taxi. The four people inside were lucky to be rescued safely. Many school officials then suspended the work, leading Project Management Board was Chuy To n work.

The lengthening of the time for site clearance, design changes, and breakdowns slows down the construction progress. In July 2015, the Chinese general contractor reported that the new stations on the line reached 30% of the volume, asking for a delay of completion. In response, the Ministry of Transport requested to replace the general contractor, bringing the project to the finish line on June 30, 2016.

By mid-2016, the project had not yet completed basic construction. The Ministry of Transport issued an “ultimatum” requesting that on December 31, 2016, the general contractor complete construction and installation for official operation by the end of the second quarter of 2017. However, the EPC general contractor once again broke his promise and asked to delay it too early in 2018.

After 4 times of delays, the Cat Linh – Ha Dong railway line was energized and interoperated in September 2018 , marking the completion of the construction part, entering the phase of safety assessment and acceptance. hand over. These procedures take up to 3 years.

Explaining the delay, the Ministry of Transport said that because the project dossier of the Chinese side was not enough, the test run time for the whole route had to be delayed. Along with that, the project has a large and complex scale, being implemented for the first time in Vietnam, so the process of completing procedures, checking, and handing overtakes a long time.

The outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020 prevented experts from Chinese contractors and ACT Consultants (France) from coming to Vietnam. At the end of the year, these people began to supervise the test run of the whole system. The parties have checked and accepted 11 component works, noting that there are some shortcomings, but this does not affect the quality, life, and bearing capacity of the works.

At the end of April, the independent consultant ACT (France) issued a system safety certificate with 16 safety recommendations for the project. This is an important certificate, the basis for project acceptance agencies. Last October, the State Inspection Council accepted the acceptance results of the Ministry of Transport, the final evaluation step to put the project into commercial operation.

The Cat Linh – Ha Dong railway project leaves many great lessons on construction investment. According to the Ministry of Transport, Vietnam’s regulations on the form of the EPC contract are not clear, there are many differences with international practices. The EPC contract that was initially signed between the two parties was not tight enough, leading to additional and adjustments later; It is not until 2016 that there is a guiding circular.

Regulations on technical design as the basis for making total cost estimates of China and Vietnam are different. China uses the overall technical design as the basis for making the total estimate to sign the EPC contract, while the technical design of Vietnam requires more detailed regulations to accurately determine the total estimate.

The project uses ODA capital from foreign donors, has specific characteristics, high technology, completely new technology and is applied for the first time in Vietnam, so the Vietnamese implementing agencies have not fully anticipated the requirements. about technology. The consulting units for project formulation and verification also do not have much experience, leading to a sketchy initial basic design, the scale, nature, and functions are not fully understood, so they have to adjust the technical design.

Regarding the responsibilities of the relevant agencies, the Ministry of Transport said that the project was behind schedule, increasing the total investment in addition to the main responsibility of the Chinese general contractor, the Ministry and the Railway Project Management Board were also responsible. responsibility in management. Design consultants are responsible for the quality of investment project formulation.

The Hanoi People’s Committee is responsible for the delay in site clearance, the Supervision Consultant is responsible for construction supervision and progress management.

After 10 years of waiting, Hanoi people are about to have another large-capacity public transport, the ticket price is only 8,000 VND for a short trip, 15,000 VND for the whole route. Follow vnexpress