The Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Board (MAUR) on Wednesday announced the planned issuance of 600,000 train passes for passengers of metro line No. 1, which runs from Ben Thanh Market in District 1 to Suoi Tien Theme Park in Thu Duc City, in preparation for its early stages of commercial operations.

MAUR, in collaboration with contractor Hitachi and other stakeholders, is currently overseeing the construction, installation, testing, and training related to the operation and maintenance of an Automated Fare Collection (AFC) system for metro line No. 1.

This system comprises ticket gates, ticket vending machines, fare adjustment machines, cash management devices, and contactless integrated circuit (IC) cards for train travel.

The AFC system is expected to distribute approximately five million IC cards, which will be available in three main types -- single-stop tickets, day passes valid for one or three days, and rechargeable, prepaid cards.

The first 600,000 cards will be issued in the early stages of metro line No. 1’s commercial operation.

The Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway No. 1 Company Limited (HURC1) will accept payments from priority groups eligible for free or discounted fares and travelers purchasing monthly passes.

HURC1 will accommodate other users utilizing EMV payment methods facilitated by banks through domestic switching organizations like Napas, and international organizations such as Mastercard, Visa, JCB, and e-wallets like VNPay and MoMo, following a recently signed strategic cooperation agreement.

On the other hand, MAUR and HURC1 will work out a solution for enabling priority individuals and those using monthly passes to utilize citizen identification cards instead of IC cards. 

This solution is endorsed by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Public Security for its practicality and socio-economic benefits.

On Wednesday, personnel of metro line No. 1 started attending a training course on AFC equipment usage, which is slated to run until Sunday.

Metro line No. 1, the first of its kind among the eight planned metro line projects in Ho Chi Minh City, is estimtated to cost a price tag of VND43.7 trillion (US$1.8 billion).

It runs 19.7 kilometers from Ben Thanh Market in District 1 to Suoi Tien Theme Park in Thu Duc City, including 2.6 kilometers of underground railways and 17.1 kilometers of elevated railways.

The route features three subterranean stations and 11 stations above ground.

The project has 17 Japanese-manufactured trains measuring 61.5 meters long and capable of carrying 930 passengers.

The link is 98,31 percent complete, according to the city administration, which said last month that the project will be granted a system safety certificate from July to November this year.

The entire metro line will run on a trial basis in October and November before it starts commercial operations by the end of the fourth quarter.

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