Transport in Vietnam

= Railways =

*total: 2,652 km
*standard gauge: 180 km
*narrow gauge: 2,249 km 1.000 m gauge
*dual gauge: 237 km NA-m gauges (three rails) (1998)

Railway links with adjacent countries

* China - yes - break-of-gauge 1000mm/1435mm - 237 km dual gauge
* Cambodia - no - same gauge 1000 mm
* Laos - no - same gauge 1000 mm

See also

* Vietnam Railways
* Gia Lam Train Company

Maps

* [http://www.worldbank.org/transport/rail/sys_maps/vietnam.gifRailway map]
* [http://www.vr.com.vn Official site]
* [http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/vietnam.pdf UN Map]

Towns to be served by rail

* Ho Chi Minh
* Loc Ninh - near Cambodia border.
* Di An - junction for Loc Ninh which borders Cambodia.

* Cost of the Ho Chi Minh-Loc Ninh railway at US$438mil.

Urban Railways

Ho Chi Minh City Metro - Advanced Planning Stage

Links

* [http://railwaynews.blogspot.com/search/label/Vietnam]

Timeline

2007

* September - a 128-km line with 12 stations is planned to start from the junction of the north-south railway at Di An Station and link to Loc Ninh township of Binh Phuoc, which borders Cambodia. [ [http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11334287.htm Vietnam - Railpage Australia™ Forums (East and South East Asia) ] ] . Several maps already show this line.

* Vietnam Railways has awarded a VN$150 billion ($US9.5 million) five-year contract to Japan Transportation Consultants, the Pacific Consultants International Group, and the Japan Railway Technical Service (Jarts) to provide consultancy services for a VN$2.47 trillion project to improve bridge and railway safety on the Ha Noi-Ho Chi Minh City main line. Under the project, 44 bridges and 37.6km of railway will be refurbished, two railway bridges and a station at Ninh Binh will be built, and 23 track machines bought. The project is expected to be completed in 2010.

Highways

Viet Nam’s road system includes: national roads administered by the central level; provincial roads managed by the provincial level, district roads managed by the district level, urban roads managed by cities and towns: and commune roads managed by the commune level.The total length of the Viet Nam road system is about 222,179 km with 19.0 % paved, mainly national roads and provincial roads (source: Vietnam Road Administration, 2004). The national road system length is 17,295 km with 83.5% of its length paved. The provincial road system is 27,762 km of length with 53.6% paved.

Expressway is rather a new concept for Vietnamese, traffic is growing rapidly but the major roads are dangerous due to inappropriate design and an inappropriate traffic mix. Expressways would solve these problems along the key corridors, by separating high speed traffic from slower, local traffic.

Viet Nam currently recognizes two classes of expressway. Both have a minimum of two lanes in each direction, but Class A has grade separated interchanges, while Class B has at-grade intersections. There are 4 design-speed categories: 60, 80, 100 and 120 km/h. Generally all cars, buses and trucks are permitted on the expressway but cong nong and motorcycles of less than 70cm³ engine capacity are not.

Road finance comes from a number of sources including the government, overseas donors such as the ADB,WB, JBIC and business organizations. Road investment recovery is mainly through tolls collected on bridges and roads, in accordance with laws mentioned above.

Viet Nam Expressway Corporation (VEC) was established in October 2004 as an institution to develop the expressways in Viet Nam. It is the only expressway company of MOT. VEC is a fully state-owned company. Current VEC business activities consist of promoting and developing five active expressway projects and well as developing the expressway network plan. In addition, VEC is proceeding with its first bond issue as well as starting negotiations on mixed ODA/OCR loans and discussing PPP/BOT approaches.

The VEC organization structure was established in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Law on State Enterprises. It is divided into three levels. The first consists of the Management Board and the Internal Audit Unit. The second level consists of the General Director and four Deputy Directors, and the third level consists of five functional divisions and two Project Management Units, one for the North and one for the South.

Funding Options for Expressways and the Relation of Funding to VEC Optimal Structure: three options are identified: 100% government financing, local BOT and foreign BOT/PPP arrangements. Experience in a number of regional countries emphasizes strong government support and a mixture of financing options.

VEC Vision and Mission: our present understanding is that the government is not looking for dividends but rather expects that VEC will carry out the expressways projects efficiently and reinvests returns into new expressways.

Pipelines

In April 1995, a 125-kilometer natural gas pipeline connecting Bach Ho with a power plant near Vung Tau went into operation. With the subsequent addition of compressors, the volume pumped rose to more than 1 billion cubic meters per year. In 2005 a 399-kilometer underwater pipeline, the world’s longest, began to carry natural gas onshore from the Nam Con Son basin. The pipeline’s anticipated capacity is 2 billion cubic meters per year, while the basin has an estimated 59 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves.

Ports and harbors

* Cam Ranh - large deep water port and used by Marco Polo during his voyages to China; formerly a major military facility for the U.S. Army and US Navy during the 1960s; later used by the Soviet Navy and the Vietnamese Navy

* Da Nang - Tien Sa seaport is the third largest sea port in Vietnam after Hoc Chi Minh City and Hai Phong; handles 3-4 million tons of cargo annually
* Hai Phong
* Ho Chi Minh City - a major port facility with several locations including Saigon Port
* Hong Gai
* Qui Nhon
* Nha Trang

Merchant marine

total: 133 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 616,115 GRT/DWT|941,611|metric|first=yes

ships by type: bulk 7, cargo 103, chemical tanker 1, combination bulk 1, container 1, liquified gas 1, petroleum tanker 15, refrigerated cargo 4 (1999 est.)

Airports

Vietnam operates 17 major civil airports, including three international gateways: Noi Bai serving Hanoi, Danang serving Danang City, and Tan Son Nhat serving Ho Chi Minh City. Tan Son Nhat is the largest, handling 75 percent of international passenger traffic. Vietnam Airlines, the national airline, has a fleet of 30 aircraft that link Vietnam with 19 foreign cities. In 2004 Vietnam Airlines had 5 million passengers, up 25 percent from the prior year, and management expects the number of passengers to reach 12 million by 2010. In November 2004, Vietnam Airlines announced that it would purchase 10 Airbus A321–200 aircraft and continue negotiations for four Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” aircraft. Vietnam Airlines’ goal is to expand its fleet to 73 aircraft by 2010. Beginning in 2006, Vietnam Airlines will cooperate with American Airlines in international flights under a codeshare agreement. Vietnam Airlines’ code will apply to American Airlines flights from the United States to Vietnam, Japan, and Europe. American Airlines’ code will apply to Vietnam Airlines flights from Vietnam to Japan and Europe.http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Vietnam.pdf (public domain)]

See also

* Vietnam

References