Cat Linh – Ha Dong Railway open to visitors
PSNews-The Railway Project Management Unit (under the Ministry of Transport) started to open the La Khe Station of the Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway project to the public for one month to help people have a closer look at the station, train and the models of all stations along the route.
Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong said that over the past time, thanks to the drastic directions from relevant ministries, all 12 stations and the deport area of the project have basically been completed, and equipment and devices are being installed in the remaining subprojects.
With great effort, the general contractor and the Project Management Unit have mobilized all resources and applied many initiatives to the project implementation in order to promote the momentum.
“After this ceremony, it is necessary to continue to finish subprojects and to install equipment and devices in the other stations. I hope that with the determination of the general contractor, as well as related units, the Cat Linh - Ha Dong railway project will be completed and put into trial operation in 2018,” the Deputy Minister emphasized.
According to Vu Hong Phuong, Deputy General Director of the Railway Project Management Unit, the project will contribute to better planning Hanoi's traffic by 2020 and reducing pollution and traffic congestion.
The initial total investment was only VND 8.770 billion. But, after several adjustments, the total investment has now mounted to VND 18,000 billion. The project starting from 2011 was to build 13 km railway, another 1.7 km in the depot area, and 12 terminals.
The project was due to be completed in 2016 but due to many reasons, it failed to be finished on time. As a result, it is expected to wrap up by the end of the year, then carry out pilot runs, and officially operate in Q2, 2018.