In Vietnam, Parliament approves €63 billion high-speed rail line project

The Vietnamese Parliament approved, on Saturday November 30, a high-speed railway line project between Hanoi, the capital, and Ho Chi Minh City valued at 63 billion euros.

“The National Assembly voted to approve (…) of the high-speed train line project on the North-South axis »she said in a press release.

This new line of more than 1,500 kilometers between the capital, in the North, and the economic heart of the country, in the South, will reduce the journey time from thirty to five hours.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong called the line “breakthrough” for Vietnamese infrastructure, estimating that it would increase the country's GDP by 0.97% per year, on average. “It is the wish of the population and the will of the political system to have a high-speed line of international standard”he said before the project was approved.

The new line, which is to have 23 stations in 20 different cities and provinces, is supposed to be built in just eight years, between 2027 and 2035.