After long delay and cost overruns, Vietnam's first metro line begins service at last

Hanoi

AFTER a huge budget overrun and a lengthy construction delay, the first metro rail project in Vietnam finally started operations in Hanoi earlier this month - some 8 years behind schedule.

The 13-kilometre Ha Dong metro line - the first of 9 lines planned for the Vietnamese capital - runs from Ha Dong in Hanoi's southwest to Cat Linh, not far from the famous Temple of Literature and Hang Day Stadium.

End to end, the journey takes about 23 minutes.

It's a relatively short route by international standards with just 12 stations in total and 13 trains on the tracks, but it is nevertheless a significant milestone for the rapidly developing South-east Asian nation.

The launch of this new public transport service on Nov 6, despite the Covid-19 pandemic which is still very much a concern for many of Hanoi's residents, has been greeted with large crowds eager to experience the trains for themselves.

In the first week alone, the Hanoi Metro went so far as to warn that it may have to temporarily shut down the service in order to ensure proper social-distancing measures were followed. That said, hand sanitiser, temperature checks and QR code check-ins are all mandatory at the stations and trains, although these rules are not always strictly enforced.

Construction of the metro line by China Railway Sixth Group began a decade ago and the original target was to have it operational by as early as 2013.

However, there were numerous hurdles such as safety and quality issues that kept pushing the deadline back repeatedly.

The cost of the project also grew over time. When construction began, it was estimated to cost US$386 million, but the final amount more than doubled to just shy of US$800 million.

The majority of the funding came from official development assistance loans from China. The trains are supplied by Beijing Subway Rolling Stock Equipment Company.

Finally, French consortium Apave-Certifier-Tricc presented Hanoi's authorities with a certificate of safety in April this year, which set the stage for this month's launch.

The new line is the first piece of a master plan that would see Hanoi with a total of 9 lines put into operation. This is aimed at reducing traffic congestion in a city of 8.3 million that frequently ranks as one of the most polluted and congested cities in the world.

At present, a second line is under construction linking Nhon in Hanoi's northwest to Hanoi Station in the centre of Hanoi via the Cat Linh metro station.

This project, however, has also run into a number of problems.

A consortium of Korea's Hyundai and Italy's Ghella that is managing the project has requested US$115 million in compensation from the Hanoi Urban Railway Management Board (MRB). They have cited delays in handing over the land necessary to build the project.

If approved, this will be the third time the contractors have been compensated for project delays since construction began in 2010.

Most recently, the MRB has said the elevated section of the new line should be running in December 2022.