Trains ordered to serve HCMC’s first metro line, which connects Ben Thanh Market in downtown HCMC and Suoi Tien Theme Park in District 9, are expected to be shipped to Vietnam from Japan in the second quarter of the year.
The HCMC Urban Railway Management Board in an announcement issued on April 13 noted that experts and engineers from Hitachi, the Japanese manufacturer of the trains, are conducting the final tests on the trains in Japan before delivering them to Vietnam. The Saigon Times, a local media reported.
Each train will have three cars in the first phase, with a total length of 61.5 meters, and can transport 930 passengers, with 147 sitting and 783 standing.
Related: First metro line in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh fully linked, expected to launch next year
The maximum speed is set at 110 kilometers per hour on elevated sections and 80 kilometers per hour in underground sections. Each train will be extended to have six cars in the future, with a total length of 121.5 meters.
A view of the inside of the train. Photo courtesy of HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR).
As regulated by the governments of Japan and Vietnam, Japanese technical experts and the trains cannot enter Vietnam at this time due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The municipal Urban Railway Management Board and Japan’s Hitachi Group are seeking the most effective solutions to speed up the delivery of the trains to Vietnam.
@ SGT