Hanoi is preparing to start work on three new urban railway projects by 2025, said municipal vice chairman Duong Duc Tuan.

At a conference on December 25 to review the Ministry of Transport’s performance in 2021, Tuan said the three metro line projects comprised the 5th line connecting Van Cao and Hoa Lac, a section from the Hanoi Station to Hoang Mai of the third line and the first metro line stretching from Yen Vien to Ngoc Hoi, the local media reported.

A train of the Nhon-Hanoi Station metro line project in Hanoi is seen in a trial run (PHOTO: VNA)

Accordingly, the fifth metro line will be a dual-track line, including a 6.5-kilometer underground section, a two-kilometer elevated section and a 29-kilometer section on the ground. The line will pass through Ba Dinh, Dong Da, Cau Giay, Nam Tu Lien, Hoai Duc, Quoc Oai and Thach That districts.

The project is being assessed by the State Appraisal Council. If approved, work on it will start in 2022, and the project is expected to be put into operation in 2026.

Meanwhile, the 8.7-kilometer Hanoi Station-Hoang Mai section of the third metro line will be an underground section running along Tran Hung Dao, Tran Thanh Tong, Kim Nguu and Nguyen Tam Trinh streets. The project is scheduled to be executed between 2023 and 2028.

In addition, a technical design consultant for the first line is being sought. The project requires an estimated VND9 trillion and is divided into three phases. After nearly two decades, the investment cost and phases of the project have been adjusted many times.

Hanoi will also accelerate the preparation for the remaining urban railways to start work on them in the 2025-2030 period.

Next year, the city will put the Nhon-Hanoi Station metro line into operation.

Furthermore, traffic systems connecting the downtown area with five satellite urban areas—Soc son, Son Tay, Hoa Lac, Xuan Mai and Phu Xuyen—will be developed. The city will also build Tay Thang Long and Ngoc Hoi-Phu Xuyen roads, Ring Roads Nos. 3, 4 and 5, Tu Lien, Hong Ha and the Me So bridges of the Ring Road No. 4 and the Duong 2 Bridge.

In the suburban districts of Gia Lam, Dong Anh, Hoai Duc, Dan Phuong and Thanh Tri, which may be developed into urban districts in the coming time, the city will gradually upgrade traffic systems.

Tuan said in 2021, Hanoi had coordinated with the Ministry of Transport to complete many traffic infrastructure projects, such as the Mai Dich-Thang Long viaduct and the Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway.

Hanoi and four other localities have sent the prime minister a plan to develop Ring Road No. 4.

(The Saigon Times)