Hanoi’s Cat Linh – Ha Dong urban railway will be put into commercial operation in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong.

Hanoi’s Cat Linh – Ha Dong urban railway will be put into commercial operation in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The ministry will hand over the long-delayed project to Hanoi once it is completed, Dong said, adding that the main Chinese engineering-procurement-construction contractor will maintain the railway until 2021.

In 2017, the implementation of the project was delayed due to the slow provision of additional capital worth USD 250.6 million. On December 28, 2017, all procedures bottlenecks were removed; hence the Export-Import Bank of China was able to disburse the money, Dong said.

He added that the ministry will work with the Chinese general contractor to address any difficulties while implementing the project.

Deputy director of the ministry’s railway project management board Vu Hong Phuong said 95 percent of the basic construction has been completed while 80 percent of the equipment has been imported for installation.

The contractor is completing the terminal system so the railway can be run on a pilot basis in September this year.

Human resources training has been pushed ahead to ensure the effective operation of the railway, Phuong added.

The Cat Linh – Ha Dong railway project has total adjusted investment of more than VND 20 trillion (USD 886 million) sourced by official development assistance loans from China.

The 13 kilometer Cat Linh - Ha Dong urban elevated railway will have 12 stations and one depot area. The railway is set to operate trains with carrier frequency of every two minutes and a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour.

Construction on the project was meant to start in 2008 but was delayed until October 2011. The line was originally expected to start running in November 2013./.

( VNF/VNA )