Metro Line No. 1 will have its first test run on December 21. Photo: tienphong.vn

HCM CITY — The HCM City's Metro Line No. 1 will conduct a test run on December 21, according to the city's Urban Railway Management Board.

The pilot run for Metro Line No. 1 will be carried out on a section of more than eight kilometres in Thủ Đức City, the Management Authority for Urban Railways said.

The trial run by Japanese contractor Hitachi will mark the first time that a train will go on a test run on the line, which runs 19.7km between Bến Thành Market in District 1 and Suối Tiên Theme Park in Thủ Đức City.

The test run will have the participation of the project's contractor - Hitachi - along with the Japanese Ambassador to Việt Nam, the Consul General of Japan, representatives of JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and leaders of the People's Committee of HCM City, Thủ Đức City and relevant departments.

The elevated section is designed for trains to run at a speed of 110 kilometres per hour (kph but for the test run the train will start at a speed of 5kph and gradually reach 20kph.

During the test, the train will also stop to pick up and drop off passengers, either at the Suối Tiên or Bình Thái stations.

The first metro line has 17 Japanese-made trains, each with a capacity to hold 930 passengers and each train can travel up to 110 kph above ground and 80 kph underground.

All 17 trains have been tested at Long Bình depot in Thủ Đức City since August.

Metro line No. 1 is expected to cost over VNĐ43.7 trillion (US$1.89 billion) and is funded by Japanese overseas development assistance and Vietnamese counterpart funds. VNS