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The railroad project No. 5 which runs from Hoa Lac to the West Lake of Hanoi, with a total capital of several billion USD has been kicked off.

On February 20, the Ministry of Transport held a seminar to consider the feasibility research report of the railroad project No. 5, which was compiled by Japanese experts from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Takao Miyagawa, a member of the research group, said that this railway will be 41km long, 1.435m in width (up to international standards). The railroad will have nine stations (in the first phase). Trains can run up to 160km per hours.

There are three plans. If the railroad runs overhead, the total investment capital will be from $3.75 to $4.2 billion. The capital is estimated at VND4.28 to 4.79 billion if it runs overhead and underground and from $4.78 to 5.34 if it runs underground.

Deputy Minister of Transport Le Manh Hung said that the Vietnamese and Japanese governments agreed to build this railroad in the form of PPP (public-private partnership). Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has assigned the Ministry of Transport to cooperate with Hanoi, related agencies of Vietnam and JICA to make the feasibility research.

Hung said that in the future, Hanoi will have eight urban railroads. The No. 5 route will connect the Hoa Lac new residential area with Hanoi’s hub. The Hoa Lac residential area is expected to become a satellite town of Hanoi once the Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park and many universities are built.

The Ministry of Transport has asked relevant agencies to combine with JICA to finalize the mid-term report in July 2012.

In 2010, Vinaconex Xuan Mai Company proposed to build the Hoa Lac – West Lake monorail.

According to Hanoi’s construction plan to 2030 and the vision to 2050, Hanoi will have eight urban railroads.

Three projects of these are under construction, including the railroad N0. 3 Nhon – Hanoi Railway Station (over $1 billion), the N0. 2 railroad Nam Thang Long – Tran Hung Dao (nearly $1 billion) and Cat Linh – Ha Dong ($550 million).

The two first elevated railroads in Hanoi, the N0. 2 and N0.3 are scheduled to complete in 2016-2017.