Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Thang gave instructions at a meeting of the Railway Key Projects Guidance Committee, calling for the acceleration of the China Vietnam cross-border railway, north-south high-speed railway, and Ho Chi Minh City urban rail transit projects, and clarifying the key nodes of each project.

China Vietnam Cross border Railway

Regarding the Laojie Hanoi Haiphong Railway project, Fan Mingzheng emphasized that the line is a key project for cooperation between China and Vietnam, and requested all relevant departments to concentrate resources to promote it with the highest priority. The Ministry of Construction is required to complete the preliminary feasibility study report for the second phase of the project by March 2026, and to negotiate a cross-border railway bridge construction agreement with the Chinese side in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

The Ministry of Finance will calculate the expenditure savings and income increase funds for 2025, and prioritize the allocation of project capital. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs to promote the China Vietnam Government Railway Cooperation Joint Committee to hold a meeting in March and complete the signing of relevant contracts.

The Ministry of Construction will negotiate with the Chinese side this month to determine the signing time of technical assistance agreements for the other two Sino Vietnamese cross-border railway lines, the Hanoi Lang Son Line and the Mangjie Ha Long Hai Phong Line, to ensure that the line planning is completed within 2026.

Ho Chi Minh Airport Railway

The Binh Thanh section of Ho Chi Minh City Subway Line 2 has been listed as an emergency project, requiring construction to begin before April 20, 2026. The project is approximately 6 kilometers long and has 6 underground stations. In the future, it will seamlessly connect with the Shoutian Longcheng Railway, achieving rapid connectivity between the Johor Bahru Airport and the Longcheng New Airport. The project will be promoted through a public-private partnership construction transfer model, with Vietnam Changhai Group as the investor, with an initial investment of 33 trillion Vietnamese dong and a target completion date of 2030.

The planned total length of the Shoutian Longcheng Railway is about 42 kilometers, with 20 stations and a designed speed of 120 kilometers per hour. The initial investment is 84.753 trillion Vietnamese dong. The municipal government is considering handing over the project to Changhai Group through a public-private partnership construction transfer model, with the goal of starting construction before June 30, 2026 and completing it by 2030. Keywords: Internet news website, railway infrastructure, high-speed rail infrastructure

Vietnam North South High Speed Railway

Regarding the North South high-speed railway project, Fan Mingzheng requested that the Ministry of Construction complete the preparation of the feasibility study consulting service bidding documents within March 2026, and select a consulting agency with sufficient experience and technical capabilities in the second quarter. This line is the largest single project in the history of railway construction in Vietnam in terms of investment scale.Editor/Gao Xue