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Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line to officially run in October

Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line to officially run in October
  Test run conducted on an elevated section of Ho Chi Minh City's Metro Line 1. (Photo: VNA)  

The Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien) in Ho Chi Minh City is expected to start commercial operation in October this year, according to the Ho Chi Minh City’s Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR).

Addressing a meeting on April 2 of the municipal People’s Committee to review socio-economic situation in the first quarter, Nguyen Quoc Hien, deputy head of MAUR - the investor of the project, said 98% of the workload on the metro line has been completed and six task groups to prepare for the official operation of the urban metro line are underway.

A training group of the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railways No. 1 Company Limited, which will be responsible for operating and managing Metro Line 1, has recruited 400 employees for training to serve the operation of the project. The employees have completed theoretical lessons and a number of them have been sent to Japan for training. 

Regarding testing work, since Metro Line 1 adopts entirely Japanese technology and standards, and testing must comply with Vietnamese laws, this process is being implemented in multiple steps. Seven trains will be operated in trial in July by Vietnamese personnel after the training work is finished.

Meanwhile, the system safety evaluation team has completed 50% of the workload. Consultants from France and Vietnam have evaluated the quality of Metro Line 1 as good, with meticulous documentation management. The assessment will continue throughout the trial period.

As for legal corridor for the metro's operation, MAUR is coordinating with relevant departments and sectors to conduct related work such as regulations regarding operation, management, and ticket, among others, to be completed in the second quarter.

For the acceptance work, the authority is working with the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Construction on five acceptance items such as registration, safety, the environment, fire prevention, and overall construction.

Hien said the full-line test run is scheduled to be completed in late September.

The Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line runs 19.7 km between District 1's Ben Thanh Market and Thu Duc City's Long Thanh Depot with three underground stations and 11 elevated stations. Work on the metro project started in 2012 and has gone through various delays. Its costs have risen to over 43.7 trillion VND (1.77 billion USD)./.

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