A light rail will connect HCM City and Long Thành International Airport in Đồng Nai Province. Photo courtesy of Đồng Nai People's Committee

HCM CITY – The Railway Project Management Board is preparing a pre-feasibility study for the Thủ Thiêm-Long Thành light rail project, the Ministry of Transport said.

The study is expected to be completed next year.

The project is part of a strategy to connect Ring Road No.3 of HCM City with roads and railways.

The light rail is expected to be about 38km long passing through HCM City and the neighbouring province of Đồng Nai with total investment of VNĐ40.5 trillion (US$1.7 billion).

According to Đồng Nai Province’s proposal, the entire route is expected to go overhead, including 19 elevated stations and a depot of 13ha located behind Long Thành International Airport.

The route starts at Thủ Thiêm station in HCM City’s Thủ Đức City and ends at Đồng Nai's Long Thành Airport, which is scheduled to open in 2025.

There are two stations connecting four terminals at Long Thành Airport. After passing through the airport, the light rail line heads back to the depot.

The Transport Ministry asked the HCM City People’s Committee to guide investors of Ring Road No.3 to update the light rail planning as well as co-ordinate with the Việt Nam Railway Department and Railway Project Management Board to study optimal solutions to build the light rail so as to ensure economic and technical requirements.

Along with the North - South railway, there are five railway lines connecting HCM City with other localities including Nha Trang – HCM City (high-speed rail), HCM City – Cần Thơ, HCM City – Lộc Ninh, HCM City - Tây Ninh and Thủ Thiêm - Long Thành.

The HCM City – Cần Thơ high-speed railway project will pass through five localities including HCM City, Long An, Tiền Giang, Vĩnh Long and Cần Thơ with nine stations.

The project has a total length of 134.9km with an investment of about US$10 billion.

The Ministry of Transport is currently speeding up the pre-feasibility study for this project.

With an expected speed of 190km per hour, the railway will shorten the travel time from Cần Thơ to HCM City to only 75-80 minutes, instead of 180-240 minutes by road presently. VNS