The last two trains for the metro line arrived in HCMC Vietnam from Japan in June, 2022 (Images courtesy HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways and VNExpress)
Ron Bernthal
The Long Binh Depot in HCMC’s Thu Duc City is installing 17 trains on tracks to prepare for test runs of the city’s first Metro Line No.1.The last two trains for Metro Line 1 (to be known locally as the Red Line) arrived in HCMC from Japan in June, 2022.
All 17 trains of the line are made in Japan, with the first trains arriving in HCMC in October, 2020. Each train consists of three cars and will be able to accommodate 930 passengers when completely full. Each car is 69-feet long, 13-feet high, and weighs 37 tons. Nguyen Quoc Hien, deputy head of the HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), the project investor, said “the arrival of the last two trains means the project has entered a new phase and is ready for testing.” The trains, supplied by Japan’s Hitachi corporation, will be capable of running at up to 70 mph on elevated sections of track.
Line 1 is the first project in a $US multi-billion mass transit program to ease congestion in Ho Chi Minh City, home to 10 million residents.
Ho Chi Minh City’s new Metro trains preparing for trial runs along Line 1.
Barriers of two meters high are established along the tracks to ensure safety.
The overhead power transmission system for the metro line has basically been completed.
HCMC’s Management Authority for Urban Railways said that trains would run on a trial schedule along separate sections of Line 1 before hitting the entire route by the end of 2022. In August, it will run from Thu Duc to Binh Thanh District and then complete the entire route, to District 1’s Ben Thanh Market, before Dec. 31.
An aerial view of Long Binh Depot. Built in 2012, it spreads over 50 acres to serve as a control center and maintenance yard for trains.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency is providing 83% of the $US 2.5bn cost of Line 1, with the rest provided by the city government. The new line will span 12 miles, with three underground stations and 11 elevated stations. The project was started in 2012, and was supposed to be completed at the end of 2021 and enter commercial operations in 2022, but after several delays it is now more than 90 percent complete, and is expected open for commercial operations at the end of 2023.
The city government is planning to build an additional eight metro, monorail and light rail projects, with work due to begin in 2022 on Line 2, known locally as the Yellow Line.
