HÀ NỘI – Hà Nội’s delayed Cát Linh-Hà Đông urban railway project again missed the target for beginning commercial operation as planned on December 2018, before the Tết (Lunar New Year) festival.

Vũ Hồng Trường, chairman of the Hà Nội Railway One Member Limited Company, told Lao Động (Labour) newspaper that the work of checking and completing the project had still not been finished.

Relevant units were still working on parts of the project. The date for commercial operation has not yet been decided, he said.

The 13km-long railway line, running from Cát Linh in Ba Đình District to the suburban district of Hà Đông, cost approximately US$868 million, of which two-thirds were loans from China. Construction officially began in 2011 and was initially planned to be completed in 2014, until several delays dragged the project to a yet unknown date of completion.

According to a representative from the Ministry of Transport although more than 30 per cent of the remaining workload of the project has been basically completed, caution is needed for all stages and the line should only be put into operation when safety is guaranteed.

All items including the station, railway line, control and operation units were complete. Every day, all 13 trains are put on a test run.

No problems have been detected after four months of trials.

However, the transport official said this was the country’s first urban railway, so safety must be a priority.

The city also plans to connect the traffic between railways with other types of vehicles to ensure convenience for passengers.

Earlier, transport minister Nguyễn Văn Thể worked with a Chinese contractor on the railway project, cafef.vn reported.

According to China’s Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC) contractor, the railway operation was delayed due to some problems regarding the completion of the documents for inspection of items as well as the whole project. These problems are caused by different regulations between the two countries.

The minister also asked the contractor to complete the relevant dossiers to handover to Hà Nội City for putting it in use safely. — VNS