Metro line No. 1 in Ho Chi Minh City is embarking on a test run at full design capacity, utilizing 14 trains and three backup trains from November 11 to 17.

Between October 14 and November 8, the metro line was operated on a trial basis at 20-percent capacity, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway No. 1 Company Limited, the metro line operator. 

In the ongoing trial, trains will operate daily from 5:00 am to 11:30 pm, with intervals between them ranging from five and a half minutes to ten minutes.

The trial operation plan includes normal weekday operations and holiday operations, plus emergency scenarios.

The Ho Chi Minh City Management Board for Urban Railways (MAUR), the investor of the metro line project, reported that the metro line underwent 47 different trial operation scenarios.

These included normal operations as well as emergency situations such as fires, explosions, power outages, flooding, and signal loss at various locations along the route, covering both the elevated and underground sections.

Before the trial run, MAUR had signed agreements with several contractors, including the Japanese firm Hitachi, regarding the use of equipment and the trial operation.

Consultants from a consortium of France’s Bureau Veritas and Vietnam’s Transport Engineering Design Inc. will closely monitor and assess the fluency of Vietnamese employees in handling emergency situations.

Phan Cong Bang, head of MAUR, said the board launched a campaign to finalize all necessary work and procedures to begin commercial operations of metro line No. 1 by December 22.

Carrying a price tag of VND43.7 trillion (US$1.7 billion), the first metro line is 19.7 kilometers long, including 2.6 kilometers of underground urban rail link and 17.1 kilometers of elevated track.

It will run from Ben Thanh Market in District 1 to Suoi Tien Theme Park in Thu Duc City, a district-level administrative unit of Ho Chi Minh City, and through three underground stations plus eleven stops above ground.

The metro includes a total of 17 trains, each capable of accommodating 930 passengers, including 147 sitting and 783 standing.

The metro line project began in 2012 and is on track to start commercial operations in late 2024.

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