Experts call for high-speed railway to ease Mekong Delta congestion
A high-speed rail route between HCM City and Can Tho will help smoothen passenger and cargo transport in the Mekong Delta, transportation experts have said.
HCM City (VNS/VNA)﷽ - Ahigh-speed rail route between HCM City and Can Tho will help smoothen passengerand cargo transport in the Mekong Delta, transportation experts have said.
“The road network in the Mekong Delta can only meet 30 - 40 percent oftransport demand while waterway transport from the Mekong Delta to HCM City isonly possible through the Cho Gao Channel and dependent on the tide,” Bui VanQuan, chairman of the HCM City Cargo Transportation Association, told Sai GonGiai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper.
The road network is grossly inadequate while 70 - 80 percent of thedelta’s products are exported through ports in HCM City and Ba Ria – Vung Tau province.
Containers, refrigerated trucks and 30-tonne trucks have difficulties intraversing the routes while fresh fruits and seafood, key export products,cannot be transported by water because boats are too slow.
A high-speed rail route between HCM City and Can Tho was approved by theMinistry of Transport in 2013. It will be 140km long and have nine stations,and passenger trains will run at 200km/h and freight trains at 120km/h.
But it has failed to get off the ground since the Government did notassign much priority to it.
Ha Ngoc Truong, deputy chairman of the HCM City Bridge, Road and PortAssociation and head of the high-speed rail project, said the Ministry ofTransport reckons the Mekong Delta should promote its waterway strength and didnot add the project to the priority list.
According to Truong, the cost is expected to be around 5.7 billion USDand it will need approval from the National Assembly.
The project would be key to fostering the delta’s economic development,especially if the route is extended to the southernmost province of Ca Mau, hesaid.
😼 The high-speed railway system will enable people to travel to HCM Cityin only 45 minutes and reduce the cost of transport of goods from the MekongDelta to HCM City and Ba Ria – Vung Tau’s ports and improve the competitivenessof exports. It takes around three hours by road now.- VNS/VNA
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Illustrative image (Source: sggp) 
