Travelling by railway from Hanoi to the northwest province of Lao Cai
now takes 40 less minutes than it used to, thanks to a project on
upgrading the Yen Vien-Lao Cai railway, which had the first phase
completed on April 25.
Over 166 million USD has
been poured into the project’s first phase, which improved 184
kilometres of railway, built 10 new bridges and upgraded 43 existing
ones, among others.
The investment includes 60
million USD sourced from official development assistance loans of the
Asian Development Bank, 32 million EUR from the French Agency for
Development (AFD) and 31 million EUR from the French Office of the
Treasurer and Receiver General (DGTresor).
Speaking at a ceremony to mark the completion of the upgrading in Yen
Bai northern province, Transport Deputy Minister Nguyen Ngoc Dong said
the 285km railway from Yen Vien (Hanoi) through Yen Bai to Lao Cai
province is an important part of the western railway line as well as the
transport corridor connecting Hai Phong City (Vietnam) and Kunming
(China).
“The railway will facilitate trade
between the northwest region and Chinese Yunnan province through cutting
transport cost, improving traffic safety and increasing railway
transport capacity to meet future demand,” he said.
The second phase of the project will raise the transport capacity on
the route to 5 million passengers and 7.5 million tonnes of goods per
year, while travelling time will be reduced by 90 minutes.-VNA