HCM City's Metro Line No. 1 completed its first trial run on August 29. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — Metro Line No. 1 completed a full-line trial-run from Bến Thành Market in District 1 to Suối Tiên Theme Park in Thủ Đức City for the first time on Tuesday morning, according to the HCM City's Management Board of Urban Railway (MAUR).

The trial-run was organised by MAUR and Hitachi Contractor (Japan).

Metro Line No. 1 has a total investment of over VNĐ43.7 trillion (US$1.9 billion).

It is about 19.7km in length with three underground stations, including Bến Thành, HCM City Opera House and Ba Son, along with 11 flyover stations, including Văn Thánh, Tân Cảng, Thảo Điền, An Phú, Rạch Chiếc, Phước Long, Bình Thái, Thủ Đức, High-tech Zone, HCM City National University and Suối Tiên Terminal.

The first test ran on nine kilometres of elevated track between Suối Tiên Station and Bình Thái Station on December 21 last year.

The elevated section is designed for trains to run at a speed of 110 kilometres per hour, but during the test run, the train ran at a speed of 40kph.

All 14 trains have 147 seats and a capacity of 930 passengers. They can run at speeds of up to 80km underground.

Nguyễn Quốc Hiển, deputy head of the HCM City’s Urban Railway Management Board, said being able to complete the test run of the whole route is an important and meaningful milestone on the occasion of the 78th anniversary of the National Day on September 2 and also a highlight in a series of events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Việt Nam-Japan diplomatic relations (1973 - 2023).

Metro line No. 1 is very important in the development of the city to the east, connecting the center of the inner city with universities, high-tech zones and new urban areas in the east of the city. Metro Line 1 will serve as a premise for the implementation of other projects such as Metro No. 2 and No. 5.

According to MAUR, the whole project has completed nearly 96 per cent of the work volume. Currently, MAUR is trying to coordinate with contractors and consultants to speed up progress, complete the construction by the end of 2023 and put it into commercial operation in early 2024. — VNS