Train for Hanoi’s 2nd metro route arrives in Hai Phong port

The first train for Hanoi’s second metro line, the Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station route, arrived in the port city of Hai Phong Sunday morning.

The train, coming from France, will be transported to Nhon depot area in Hanoi on the same day, according to the Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Board (MRB).

The process of unloading the train carriages at Nam Hai Dinh Vu Port will take about 4-5 hours. The transfer of the train to the depot will take place on Sunday and Monday night, the board added.

The train will be displayed at S1 station on Road 32, 15 kilometers from the city downtown, in November for people to take a look.

It would be tested for several months before the start of commercial operations next year, Nguyen Trung Hieu, deputy head of the MRB, had said earlier.

The remaining nine trains for the city’s second metro line, the Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station route, which are being manufactured in France, are scheduled to be in Hanoi in 2021.

The Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station route consists of 10 trains, with the first train consisting of four carriages that are 80 meters long. The train was made of European standard aluminum alloy by a French contractor and departed from France’s Dunkirk Port for Vietnam on September 2.

Each train can carry from 944 to 1,124 people, with a commercial speed of 35 km/h and a designed speed 80 km/h.

The train has a low floor so it is convenient for passengers to get on and off, especially for those with luggage or having to move by wheelchair. There are also priority areas for people with disabilities on the train.

It has three colors: green, red pink and white with the emblem of Khue Van Cac, the Constellation of Literature pavilion inside the Temple of Literature in Hanoi, Vietnam’s first national university. In 2012, this pavilion was named an official symbol of the capital city.

According to MRB, the train’s colors are inspired by rice and dragon fruit, typical agricultural products of Vietnam. It took years for the design unit to choose colors that both represent Vietnam and its capital Hanoi, and are also suitable to travel conditions.

« In Europe, many do not know Ha Long Bay, but they do know the dragon fruit. When people saw the design, some said they guessed this train is made for Vietnam, » said an MRB representative.

The selection of the train’s design was made after a survey by MRB in 2008 on more than 1,000 people of different ages, occupations and places of residence. It showed that more than 80 percent of respondents agreed with this design and over 90 percent said they are ready to use the trains when the railway comes into operation.

The route will run 12.5 kilometers from Nhon in the western district of Nam Tu Liem, via Kim Ma Street to the Hanoi Railway Station in the downtown area.

It will run 8.5 kilometers on elevated tracks and the remaining four kilometers underground. The underground section will be ready in 2023.

By early September this year, the route was 65 percent complete, including 80 percent on the elevated section.

Hanoi’s first metro, the Cat Linh-Ha Dong Metro Section, which runs 13 kilometers from downtown Dong Da District to Yen Nghia in the southwestern Ha Dong District, was in the final stage of safety evaluation in September, but a final deadline for commercial operation has not been set.

By Vo Hai – VnExpress.net – October 18, 2020