New move breaks ice for Hanoi's first metro line

After three months, the quality inspection for 13 trains of Cat Linh - Ha Dong urban railway has been completed and the Vietnam Register, which is in charge of certification and registration of vehicles, has granted temporary registration certification for the trains, fanning hope that the project can initiate commercial run soon.

All the 13 trains were inspected in accordance with Vietnam's national standards on the appraisal of train cars, both in static and running status.

A train of Cat Linh - Ha Dong urban railway. Photo: Giaothonghanoi

It is expected that an official certificate will be issued after the trial run is finished.

According to the Vietnam Register, the temporary registration certificates for 13 trains aims to support trial operation of the Cat Linh - Ha Dong railway system.

According to the initial plan, the test run of the whole Cat Linh - Ha Dong railway system would be completed before December 31, 2019 so as for the project managers to start commercial operation in  2020. However, China Railway Sixth Group - the EPC contractor of the project - has not met the necessary conditions, thus the trial operation has not taken place as planned.

The Cat Linh - Ha Dong project is a new urban railway project and the first one in Vietnam. It must be evaluated and certified for system safety by an independent consultancy organization first. Then, the Vietnam Register will evaluate safety dossiers and issue evaluation certificate, before the project enters the commercial operation phase.

The railway is one of the key public transport projects in Hanoi. Since September 2018, this project has tested all 13 trains, with the average speed of 35 kilometers per hour.

The railway is 13.5 kilometers long from Cat Linh Station in downtown Dong Da district to Yen Nghia Station in the southwestern Ha Dong district, and uses standard-gauge rail track (1,435mm).

The designed speed of the track reaches 80km/h and with the frequency of two minutes.