Metro passengers at Ben Thanh Station
Nguyen Van Ha, 52, was afraid when he saw the train suddenly stop on January 14, when it rained heavily.
"The train had to stop for half an hour," the passenger said. "As the service is new in the city, we were worried."
Another passenger, Tran Van Dung, said that he has turned to using the metro to work since its launch and has seen that the service has had to be halted twice during heavy rains and thunderstorms.
"I think that the operator needs to seek measures to deal with the problem as HCM City has a long rainy season," Dung said.
Speaking at a recent press conference, Phan Cong Bang, head of HCM City's Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), also reported that metro line 1 was temporarily suspended twice last month, once at Ba Son Station and the other at Tan Cang Station, due to heavy rain and thunderstorms.
"The first stoppage was mainly due to staff not being accustomed to operating the metro line in rainy weather conditions, while the second occurred because of a lightning strike affecting power lines," he explained.
According to the Japanese contractor Hitachi, the design of Japanese metro trains did not consider the high-intensity lightning commonly seen in Vietnam. As such, when lightning strikes occur, power is automatically cut for about a second, or the system is switched to manual operation to ensure safety.
MAUR added that although the system is operating quite smoothly, some components, including platforms and the ticketing system, are still being finalised. These are expected to be finished by May.
Tran Dang Thanh, deputy director of the HCM City Urban Railway 1 Company said that they would co-ordinate with Hitachi to thoroughly address the project's remaining construction work.
"The company is currently adjusting the parameters of the train schedule and limiting train speeds on steep slopes during heavy downpours to ensure safety," he said.
The Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien Metro line, operational on December 22, is the first metro line in HCM City. It covers a distance of 19.7 kilometres and links District 1 with eastern districts, including Binh Thanh and Thu Duc City.
The route operates daily from 5 am to 10 pm, with nine trains spaced 8-12 minutes apart. Each train can carry a maximum of 930 passengers.
The ticket price for a single trip for passengers paying with cash ranges from VND7,000 to VND20,000. For those purchasing single tickets with cashless payment, the fare ranges from VND6,000 to VND19,000.
The service is receiving an increasing number of passengers. The line currently conducts an average of 177 trips daily, with 76,142 passengers, and earns over VND1 billion.
