The Ministry of Transport (MoT) has proposed investing VND240 trillion (US$10.4 billion) to expand the railway network from now until 2030.

The ministry has submitted a draft master plan on railway development up to 2030, with a vision toward 2050, to the Prime Minister for approval. It aims to raise the sector's market share to 0.27 per cent in cargo transportation and 4.4 per cent in passenger transportation by 2030, Tuoi tre (Youth) has reported.

The volume of cargo will reach 11.8 million tonnes by 2030, up 2.3 times over 2019’s figure and passenger transportation will reach 460 million people.

To achieve this goal, the national railway network will be extended to 16 routes with a total length of 4,871km. The number includes seven existing routes and nine new lines.

The seven existing routes namely Ha Noi-HCM City, Ha Noi – Hai Phong, Yen Vien - Lao Cai, Ha Noi – Dong Dang, Ha Noi – Thai Nguyen, Kep – Ha Long – Cai Lan, Kep – Luu Xa will all be upgraded to meet domestic transport demand.

Among the nine new routes, top priority will be the North-South high-speed railway project with a plan to build a double-track railway of 1,435mm size, stretching over 1,545km.

By 2050, the national railway network will consist of 25 routes with a total length of 6,409km. This will be an increase of nine with an additional length of 1,538km.

According to Nguyen Ngoc Dong, Deputy Minister of Transport, the railway network planning for 2050 will basically not change much compared to the plan approved in Decision 1468/QD-TTg in 2015 of the Prime Minister. — VNS