The Vietnam Railway Authority officially asked the country’s Ministry of Transport to approve the planning of a railway which will connect Vietnam to China. The cost of the project is estimated at 6.5 billion euros. The railway would run from the Vietnamese port of Quang Ninh, in the northeast, to the border crossing with China in Lao Cai, stretching for 427 kilometres.
The project is being planned in cooperation with consultancy consortium TRICC-TEDI, provided some estimations on the line’s future capacity. By 2030, around 12.77 million tonnes of freight should be moved along the Quang Ninh-Lao Cai railway, while it would rise to 14.94 million tonnes in 2040 and 17.48 million tonnes by 2050.
Out of the 6.5 billion euros necessary to create the infrastructure, 2.6 billion euros will be spent for site clearance operations while the remaining 3.9 billion will be deployed for construction and equipment. In addition to this project, Vietnam has already showed its intention of extending the infrastructure to the south of the country, all the way to Ho Chi Minh City. However, such an initiative would see prices significantly rise and construction time would likely increase.
European Silk Road Summit 2024
Rail freight in Asia is one of the key topics to be discussed at the European Silk Road Summit 2024, taking place in Vienna on 27-28 November.
Registrations for the yearly event are already open, while the programme, which this year highlights the fast-recovering China-Europe rail market, is shaping up.
