In February of this year, the Vietnamese National Assembly approved the Lao Cai-Hanoi-Hai Phong railway project, paving the way for economic growth. In particular, the Ministry of Construction's project paves the way for investment by Chinese manufacturers in neighbouring Vietnam, currently one of the most attractive manufacturing locations in Asia.
The railway line begins at the border crossing in Lao Cai province and ends at the railway station of the largest port in northern Vietnam, Lach Huyen in the city of Hai Phong.
The main line is around 390.9 kilometres long and runs through nine centrally located provinces and cities. The infrastructure project also brings China and Vietnam closer together technically. The existing railway line with a track gauge of 1 metre from the French colonial era is to be replaced by new tracks with the international standard gauge of 1.435 metres, making it compatible with the Chinese rail network.
The intended speed for the main line section between the new Lao Cai station and Nam Hai Phong station is 160 km/h, for the section running through the centre of Hanoi ,120 km/h and for the remaining sections, 80 km/h. This makes freight transport considerably faster.
According to reports, it currently takes two days to transport goods from the Chinese province of Yunnan, which borders Vietnam to the south, to Hai Phong by truck. Once the railway line opens, the time should be reduced to five hours and freight costs are expected to fall by 30%.
Textile manufacturers in Vietnam will therefore benefit from significant advantages: The cost of transporting textiles will be immediately reduced, timely delivery of textiles can be guaranteed, the risk of non-payment due to transport delays caused by congestion will be reduced, and textile companies will be able to build a more reliable supply chain system. /1/
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The implementation studies for the mega infrastructure project are to be carried out by 2025. The first railway is scheduled to run on the new tracks in 2030.