Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – Relevant departments, agencies and units have been asked to ensure all necessary conditions are in place to commence construction of the Thu Thiem – Long Thanh railway project before July 2, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Ho Chi Minh City officially named after President Ho Chi Minh.
The request was made by Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Bui Xuan Cuong following a site inspection of the project.
Cuong said relevant departments, agencies and units have recently made active efforts to fulfil assigned tasks and successfully launch the construction of Metro Line No. 2’s Ben Thanh – Thu Thiem section on April 29, basically meeting the planned schedule.
To strengthen connectivity between Long Thanh International Airport in Dong Nai city, downtown Ho Chi Minh City and Tan Son Nhat International Airport, the official told relevant units to promptly prepare, appraise and approve the feasibility study report, including the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED), to break ground on the Thu Thiem – Long Thanh railway project before July 2.
During the preparation, appraisal and approval of the feasibility study report, the city leadership asked the Department of Construction, Department of Finance, Department of Planning and Architecture, and the Dai Quang Minh Real Estate Investment JSC to, based on passenger demand forecasts and technical standards, develop phased investment plans for stations to optimise operational efficiency and travel time, improve accessibility and public transport connectivity, minimise investment costs, and maximise the project’s effectiveness.
Relevant units were also tasked with studying and planning transit-oriented development (TOD) areas around Thu Thiem Station, Binh Trung Station and Long Truong Depot, along with route alignments and locations of facilities along the line, to utilise land resources and public infrastructure, helping ease traffic congestion, reduce environmental pollution and increase budget revenue.
The agencies concerned were instructed to consult with the People’s Committee of Dong Nai to reach an agreement on route alignments, the number and locations of stations, transport connections to stations, solutions for integrating the metro line with other public transport modes, and the system of standards and technical regulations applied to the project. The project must also take into account connectivity with the extension of the Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien metro line to the administrative centre of Dong Nai and Long Thanh Airport.
At the same time, technology plans, standards and regulations, as well as the selection of rolling stock, automatic fare collection systems, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and signalling and communication systems must be reviewed and developed to ensure synchronisation with the two sections of Metro Line No. 2, namely Ben Thanh – Tham Luong and Ben Thanh – Thu Thiem.
The Thu Thiem – Long Thanh railway project is designed to span about 47.7km, including 11.5km in Ho Chi Minh City and 36.2km in Dong Nai. It is expected to include 19 stations, including two underground and 17 elevated stations./.
