Minister of Construction Nguyen Thanh Nghi, a member of the Steering Committee for the North - South high-speed railway construction project agreed to invest in the project following the third scenario.
Accordingly, there are three scenarios for the project.
For the third scenario, the project is designed as a double-track railway with a gauge of 1,435 mm and a speed of 350 kilometers an hour serving passenger and cargo trains.
The project is estimated to cost about US$68.98 billion, even up to US$71.69 billion in case of investing additional infrastructure, equipment and means for freight trains. Around 60 percent of bridges, ten percent of tunnels and 30 percent of ground section will be built newly. In addition, the entire route will have 23 passenger stations, five terminals for repairing and maintenance, 40 infrastructure maintenance facilities, five freight stations and four depots.
The Ministry of Construction also proposed that the Ministry of Transport would study and upgrade and modernize the current North - South railway route following the direction of upgrading a double-track railway up to a gauge of 1,435 mm.
Besides, the Ministry of Transport is proposed to coordinate with relevant agencies to ensure the original agreement, avoid arising adjustments and add legal bases for preliminary proposals of the project’s investment capital.
As for the remaining two scenarios, the Ministry of Transport is collecting opinions from members of the Steering Committee for the North - South high-speed railway construction project.
The first scenario heads to building a double-track railway with a gauge of 1,435 mm, a length of 1,545 kilometers and a speed of 350 kilometers an hour along with upgrading and innovating the current North - South railway route to carry goods, tourists and short-distance passengers. It is estimated to reach around US$67.32 billion in investment.
Meanwhile, as for the second scenario, the US$72.02 billion project envisages the construction of a double-track railway with a gauge of 1,435 mm and a speed of 200-250 kilometers an hour serving cargo and passenger trains along with modernizing the current North - South railway route to transport goods, tourists and short-distance passengers.
By Minh Anh - Translated by Huyen Huong