Vietnam-China railway to create $4.4B construction market

The Lao Cai-Hanoi-Hai Phong railway that connects northern Vietnam with China is expected to create a construction market worth US$4.4 billion with 90,000 jobs.

According to the Ministry of Transport’s pre-feasibility report submitted to the government, combining with national railways and metro lines, the country’s entire railway network would create a market worth $98.2 billion and millions of jobs.

The Lao Cai-Hanoi-Hai Phong railway project will be built from 2026 to 2030 with a cost of VND194.929 trillion ($7.7 billion).

The line will span 403.1 km, connecting the Ha Khau-Lao Cai border gate with Hai Phong seaport, running through nine localities, including the capital Hanoi, with 20% of Vietnam’s population and 25% of its industrial complexes.

In accordance with national plans, the Lao Cai-Hanoi-Hai Phong railway would have the second-highest demand for the transportation of goods and people, after the eastern side of the north-south economic corridor.

By 2050, the total transportation demand on the route is anticipated to reach 397 million tons of goods and 334 million passengers. In order to reduce logistics costs, the railway would need to handle 25.6 million tons of goods and 18.6 million passengers.

The current railway, built from the French colonial era, can only handle 4.1 million tons of goods and 3.8 million tons of passengers. The new railway would be safer, saving more space and being more environmentally friendly.

Using the new railway, goods would be going in and out of the border on multimodal trains to Europe, which helps to reduce transportation and logistics costs. The investment into a new railway would also create a construction market, helping with economic development.

The transport sector would also need to build another 1,953 km worth of standard railways to establish a stable and long-term market for future projects.

The trains would be built to ensure coordination with other international connective routes, including information and signaling system similar to the systems being used in other countries in the region.

VnExpress.net – February 11, 2025