Communication works crucial to promoting urban railway’s role: official

Hanoi (VNA) – Communication works should be carried out in an effective manner to raise public awareness of the important role of the urban railway to the city’s development, according to Chairman of the Hanoi Railway One Member Limited Company Vu Hong Truong.

At a talk held in Hanoi on September 26 as part of the “media support for Hanoi urban railway” project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Truong said that railway has been billed as the backbone of the transport system in large urban areas in the world.

Developing urban railway system in Hanoi is an urgent issue as the city is facing serious traffic congestion and environmental pollution, he stressed.

Standing Deputy Head of the Hanoi Municipal Party Committee’s Commission for Education and Popularisation Pham Thanh Hoc said that the Cat Linh-Ha Dong elevated railway, the first of its kind in Hanoi, began trial run on September 20 and is expected start operation before the Lunar New Year holiday 2019.

It has drawn attention from the public who are interested in the railway’s operation and connection to other means of public transportation, he added.

Regarding human resources for the railway route, Truong said that 80 percent of the workers received training at Tokyo Metro and Beijing Metro, adding only qualified labourers are allowed to serve the project.

The Cat Linh-Ha Dong railway will operate 144 trains per day, and each can carry up to 1,000 passengers during rush hours, Truong underlined, adding that the company has worked out plan to arrange bus stops and other means of public transportation along the railway line, helping transport railway passengers to and from other areas of the city.

The official also said that the fares will be 3 percent higher than those of normal buses.

The Cat Linh-Ha Dong elevated railway in the capital cityi began a trial run on September 20 morning. According to the project’s management board, the railway will be tested for 3-6 months until it is ready for official operation.

Since August, the general contractor has carried out tests on equipment, such as checking the power supply, information and signal systems as well as running each train, said the project management board. The move aims to ensure that the entire project has achieved the technical standards as designed, it said, adding that the inspection has been completed.

The railway system is being trialed at night, running at full load with the operation of stations and passenger service facilities. All the 13 trains are put into operation simultaneously. Trains start from Yen Nghia station in Ha Dong district to Cat Linh station in Dong Da district and stop at each station for one minute.

During the early stage of the trial, the trains run every 10-12 minutes at average speeds of 30-35km per hour. In the commercial exploitation period, the time gap between two trips will be gradually reduced to five minutes as designed.

The railway line stretches over 13km, linking Cat Linh street in Dong Da district in Hanoi downtown with Yen Nghia bus station in Ha Dong district. It includes 12 stations and a depot at Phu Luong ward in Ha Dong district.-VNA