Ho Chi Minh City aims to complete site clearance for the Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho and Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway projects by 2025 so that work on the two projects can start in 2030, according to a draft plan for the city’s railway network development the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport sent to the municipal People’s Committee.

The Department of Transport is currently preparing the prefeasibility reports for the two projects.

The Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho express railway project was designed to feature nine stations in five localities—Ho Chi Minh City, Long An, Tien Giang, Vinh Long, and Can Tho.

The 134.9-kilometer-long railway project carries a price tag of some US$10 billion.

Meanwhile, the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh light rail project will pass through Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring Dong Nai Province.

The 38-kilometer railway will include a 11.8-kilometer section in Ho Chi Minh City and the remainder running through Dong Nai. It will carry an estimated price tag of some VND40.5 trillion ($1.7 billion).

Under the draft plan, the city expected to complete its railway planning by 2024.

The city also has plans to convert the current railway section from Binh Trieu Station in Thu Duc City to Saigon Station in District 3 into an urban railway by 2045.

It will approve investment plans for the Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho express railway, Thu Thiem - Long Thanh light rail, and Ho Chi Minh City - Loc Ninh railway, linking the city and Binh Phuoc Province, by 2025.

Ho Chi Minh City will complete the site clearance and relocation of technical facilities in the city for the Ho Minh City - Nha Trang expressway railway during the same period in order to break ground on the project, part of the trans-Vietnam high-speed railway, during the 2026-30 period.

The city hopes to put half of the length of the metro lines in its precincts into operation by 2030 and complete key metro lines over the next five years.

The southern metropolis has plans to connect metro lines No. 1, 3a, and 3b with urban areas in Bien Hoa City under Dong Nai Province, Tan An City under Long An Province, and Thu Dau Mot City under Binh Duong Province, all neighbors of Ho Chi Minh City.

These railway projects are important to connect the traffic infrastructure, boosting the regional connectivity, and creating spaces and motivation for the socio-economic development of Ho Chi Minh City and the southern key economic zone as a whole.

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