The “Vietnam-Japan Friendship Train” will run on the North-South railway from May 8 to September 23, as part of activities to celebrate the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Year.

It will give the two countries’ people an insight into their cooperation outcomes as well as Japan ’s assistance to the North-South rail route, stressed Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Tanizaki Yasuaki at a press conference held in Hanoi on April 26.

The SE1 from Hanoi station and the SE2 from Saigon station are under the name “The Vietnam-Japan Friendship Train”. The last journey of the train will depart from Saigon station on September 21, the date 40 years ago Vietnam and Japan officially signed a diplomatic note on the establishment of their diplomatic ties.

Japan has always been the leading sponsor for Vietnam ’s socio-economic development, notably the project to upgrade the North-South railway.

Between 1993 and 2013, Japan has helped Vietnam upgrade and replace as many as 48 out of 63 railway bridges on the route with a total cost of 45.1 billion JPY. Thanks to this, the travel time between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City has been cut from 36 to 30 hours. It is expected that the time will be 24 hours if the replacement of remaining bridges is completed.

A photo competition on the train will be launched by the Vietnamese company PENTAX RICOH at the same time.-VNA