North–South express Railway (Vietnam: Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City)
North–South express railway (Vietnamese: Đường sắt cao tốc Bắc-Nam) is a proposed high speed railway in Vietnam. The line would begin in Hanoi, crossing provinces and municipalities of Hanoi, Hà Tây, Hà Nam, Ninh Bình, Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Đà Nẵng, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên, Khánh Hòa, Ninh Thuận, Bình Thuận, Đồng Nai, Bình Dương, and coming to an end in Ho Chi Minh City. The rail line would connect the two most developed areas in Vietnam which are Hanoi in the North’s Red River Delta in the north and Ho Chi Minh City in the South’s Mekong River Delta. The total proposed length would be 1,570 kilometres (980 mi), compared with the 1,729-kilometre (1,074 mi) of the old railway line.[1] The cost of the line is estimated at US$55.85 billion,[2] to be funded by official development assistance from Japan and by the Vietnamese government itself. The project is planned to be implemented in three phases: Hanoi to Vinh city (285 km); Vinh City to Nha Trang (896 km); and Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City (364 km). Construction activities on the first phase are expected to commence in 2020, and the whole project is scheduled for completion in 2050. This project is part of the country’s railway transport development strategy by 2020 with a vision to 2050. The project is also part of the Trans-Asian railway network.
