Introdution

Introduction

Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Line 1, Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien Section has a total length of 19.7 km ( in which 2.6 km  underground and 17.1 km elevated), 14 stations (3 Underground stations and 11 Elevated stations). A Depot at Long Binh Ward, District 9 with the area of 20,9 ha.

Source of funds: JICA’s Loan and HCMC’s capital.

The Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has received an ODA loan from The Japan Bank for International Co-Operation currently reorganized as the Japan International Co-Operation Agency (JICA), towards the cost of the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Construction Project, Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien Section (Line 1)

The Project includes an elevated section running through eleven stations to a depot area to be implemented under Contract Package 2. Underground section and Metro systems will be implemented under Contract Package 1 and Package 3.

HCMC Metro System is an urban mass transit system having higher capacity than a ground railway system or Monorail system. The HCMC urban railway system consists of two sections: underground and elevated. The Metro system will use rolling stock which is different from diesel tractor of train, having electric motor cars intermixed with non-motorized cars. Depending on the number of passengers at peak hours, each train set has 3 to 6 cars and runs at time intervals of 3 to 5 minutes. Metro traveling speed is 40km per hour (e.g. it will take 30 minutes to travel from Ben Thanh to Suoi Tien).

Metro Line 1 is expected to operate with three passenger cars per train set carrying around 930 passengers. At peak hour traffic there will be fourteen trips running at 4.5 minutes intervals to serve approximately 124,800 passengers in one hour.

Until 2020 the number of trains will be increased twice allowing 20 trains to be operated at 3 minutes intervals during peak time of traffic. By the year 2040 there will be 28 trips running at 2 minutes 10s intervals to serve the travelling demand of 1,312,572 passengers per day. 

Metro Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien Line 1 is the first of the planned estimated 6 Metro lines to be constructed in HCMC. The Metro Line will contribute towards solving the City’s traffic congestion, environmental pollution problems and lead towards the development of a modern urban environment. The metro system will also be   integrated with the existing bus and other transportation systems. Urban Railways is the important transport strategy of HCMC. Line 1 will run from Ben Thanh Station, the biggest public transportation station located in the City center, to Suoi Tien, the gateway of Ho Chi Minh City from Dong Nai Province and Binh Duong Province with its concentration of the universities and future planned hospitals.