Study on express railway to Mekong Delta okayed

A new feasibility study on an express railway link to connect Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho in the Mekong Delta will go ahead after the Prime Minister gave permission for the extension of the trans-Viet express railroad project.

According to the People’s Committee of Can Tho City, the Mekong Delta section of the North-South Express Railway will start from HCMC and pass through Can Tho and extend to the southernmost province of Ca Mau.

According to the technical outline, trains running on the trans-national rail route could reach speeds as high as 350kms an hour.

The HCMC to Can Tho leg could be as fast as 35 minutes, a far cry from the five hours by bus and four hours by express boat currently available to commuters.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung assigned the ministry of transport to complete the feasibility study by 2010 and begin the bidding and construction by 2011.

The HCMC – Can Tho express route is estimated to cost US$4billion and should be wrapped up by 2020, said Ha Ngoc Truong, a senior railway-building expert from the Southern Transport Engineering Design Corporation.

Truong said the trans-Viet express railway route may cost US$32 billion to build by the time it is finished in 2036.

Ngoc An

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