Police in Ho Chi Minh City have found that the people vandalizing railcars on Ho Chi Minh City’s metro line No. 1, which are being kept at Long Binh Depot in Thu Duc City, are foreigners.

Police officers in Thu Duc City have handed over the case to the Ho Chi Minh City criminal police division for further investigation.

Hoang Mai Tung, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), the developer of the metro line No. 1 project, reported the metro car vandalism at a press briefing on May 4.

Vandals sprayed the metro cars with graffiti on April 30 and the MAUR completed removing the paint marks on May 2.

The incident is a repetition of the same act of vandalism that occurred in June 2022.

The authority had earlier signed an insurance contract for the railcars with their maker Hitachi during the installation, operation, and maintenance of these metro cars.

The metro cars are in trial operation.

The MAUR, Hitachi, and the Thu Duc police bureau reached a consensus on adding surveillance cameras and lighting systems, together with more staff, to safeguard the railcars at Long Binh Depot.

Two groups of security guards will take turns to patrol the location of the railcars. 

The metro service is 19.7 kilometers long, including 2.6 kilometers of underground railways and 17.1 kilometers of elevated tracks, running from Ben Thanh Market in District 1 to Suoi Tien Theme Park in Thu Duc City through three underground stations and 11 stops above the ground.

It has 17 trains, each consisting of three cars.

Each Japanese-manufactured train is 61.5 meters long and can carry 930 passengers, including 147 sitting and 783 standing guests, at up to 110 kilometers per hour above the ground and 80 kilometers per hour underground.

The metro line project, with a total investment of VND43.7 trillion (US$1.9 billion), is now 95 percent complete and has embarked on three test runs.

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee adjusted the expected completion date for the project to the end of this year, while Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh demanded that the construction of the metro line be finished by September 2, 2023.

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