HÀ NỘI – The domestic railway industry should reform to increase its competitive ability and revenue in the second half of this year, an official of the Ministry of Transport has said.

At the conference on implementing the railway industry’s business missions by this year-end, held in Hà Nội on Wednesday, the Việt Nam Railway Corporation reported that its transport revenue reached VNĐ1.95 trillion (US$88.6 million) in the first half of this year, which was 77.5 per cent of revenue in the same period last year.

The low revenue was partly due to the collapse of the Ghềnh Railway Bridge in Đồng Nai Province, affecting the transport of cargo and passengers in May and June which were hottest months of this summer tourism season. One more reason that impacted the volume of passengers was the massive fish deaths in four central coastal provinces.

Đào Anh Tuấn, director of Sài Gòn Railway Transport Joint Stock Company, said the volume of passengers booking tickets on routes from Sài Gòn to Đà Nẵng, Huế, Đồng Hới and Vinh, reduced sharply this summer against last year, the Giao thông vận tải (Transport) newspaper reported.

In addition, Phùng Thị Lý Hà, deputy general director of Hà Nội Railway Transport Joint Stock Company, said the railway industry has faced severe competition from low-cost airlines. The price of an air ticket of a low-cost airline stood at some VNĐ600,000 for a one-way ticket from Hà Nội to Đà Nẵng while the rail fare was VNĐ700,000 per bed, one-way for a 4-bed cabin, with air conditioning.

The railway firms could not reduce the fare further because they would suffer losses, Hà said.

The local railway industry still has numerous limitations and is not being utilised to its full potential, Trần Ngọc Thành, chairman of Việt Nam Railway Corporation, said.

At present, an important thing was to re-organise transport activities for improving efficiency in transport and business, especially transport of cargo.

The market was competitive so the railways must take full advantage to exploit the segment that has a chance of development.

To promote transport and business as well as improve competitiveness in the second half of this year, the corporation must re-evaluate its restructure from corporate management to business activities and promote transport of cargo and passengers, Nguyễn Ngọc Đông, deputy minister of transport, said at the conference. – VNS