Held up Vietnam rail plan still counts on Japan

Although a plan to build a north-south high-speed railway connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam has hit a snag following an unusual move by the communist state’s legislature not to approve it for further study, the head of the railway is calling for continued support from Japan.

Nguyen Huu Bang, chairman and chief executive officer of Vietnam Railways Corp., said in a recent interview that he expects the Japan International Cooperation Agency to start feasibility studies on two specific high-speed railway sections in the near future to lay the groundwork for the project.

Vietnam has expressed its intention to adopt the shinkansen system for its ¥5 trillion project to build a 1,600-km high-speed railway linking the two cities in as little as 5 1/2 hours.

JICA has conducted a preliminary study as part of a comprehensive survey of Vietnam’s overall transport system and says the railway will be economically feasible on condition that it opens in or after 2036 and urban development along the line accelerates, boosting an inflow in the population.

Although the project failed to gain majority support in the legislature in June, Bang said the government is expected to resubmit it after new leaders of the Communist Party are selected next year.

No official announcement was made by the legislature, but Vietnamese national assembly members reportedly were concerned about fiscal sustainability if the project is carried out, as its estimated costs amount to about two-thirds of the nation’s gross domestic product.

The Communist Party of Vietnam is set to hold its national party congress, held every five years, in January to select new leaders. The high-speed railway is one of the priority projects being strongly pushed by Premier Nguyen Tan Dung.

Bang said he is not discouraged by the legislature’s request for “more details” of the project and that he expects JICA to closely examine the feasibility of two priority railway sections — a 295-km section in the north from Hanoi to Vinh and a 362-km section in the south from Ho Chi Minh City to Nha Trang.

He said operations of the two sections can start earlier than the opening of the entire north-south line in or after 2036.

JICA’s feasibility study will provide basic information to Tokyo in making a decision on whether to extend yen loans for the project.

The head of the railway said Vietnam wants to introduce Japanese technology because it intends to adopt the so-called electric multiple unit style, which has been increasingly used for high-speed rail systems around the world.

Shuji Eguchi, director of the international affairs office at the transport ministry’s railway bureau, said Vietnam “highly evaluates” the safety and punctuality of the shinkansen system. Since the launch of its services in 1964, no accidents involving casualties have occurred.

Eguchi said, however, the government has not yet officially decided on the start of JICA’s feasibility study as Tokyo believes it should not hurry over the railway project, which will be a long-term process.

Although the government has recently put a focus on exporting its infrastructure systems, including the shinkansen, to spur its own economic growth, the official of the Land, Transport, Infrastructure and Tourism Ministry said Japan is “not pushing itself” with regard to the Vietnam project.

“We need a step-by-step approach. The conventional Vietnamese railway is single track and not electrified yet,” he said. “To jump from that stage to the shinkansen, Vietnam needs to train personnel and enact necessary legislation.”

The acquisition of the right of way will also be hard work, he added. A new railway must be built separately from the existing line for exclusive use by high-speed trains.

Eguchi said Vietnamese people should first get used to “the railway culture” after the introduction of planned urban train systems in its two major cities in the foreseeable future. At present, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City citizens usually get around by motorcycle.

Toshio Nagase, senior representative of JICA’s Vietnam office in Hanoi, said not many people currently use railway services for long-distance trips in Vietnam, but he believes there is considerable demand for speedy trains.

It is considered dangerous to travel by long-distance bus due to bad road conditions on expressways and few people have their own cars, he said. Frequent travelers fly between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City because it takes more than 30 hours to travel by the existing train service. – JapanTimes

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