The railway operator said the extra trains will run between February 14 and 22 on the Hanoi-Danang, Hanoi-Vinh and Hanoi-Lao Cai routes, providing about 7,300 additional seats.
On the Hanoi-Danang line, train SE17 will depart Hanoi on the evening of February 13, while SE18 will leave Danang on the afternoon of February 14 to meet post-Tet travel demand between the two major cities.
On the Hanoi-Lao Cai route, additional SP1 services will depart Hanoi in the evenings of February 17, 18 and 19. In the opposite direction, an extra SP2 service will run from Lao Cai to Hanoi on the evening of February 20. This route serves many spring tourists heading to Sapa, where ticket demand typically rises quickly.
The Hanoi-Vinh route will see the largest number of additional services, as it caters to large numbers of passengers returning to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi after Tet. Extra NA3 trains will depart Hanoi for Vinh on the nights of February 14, 15 and 17. From Vinh to Hanoi, NA8 services will run daily from February 18 to 21, NA6 from February 19 to 21, and NA4 on February 19 and 22.
Several high-quality express services, including SE34, SE36 and SE38, will also be added on February 19 and 20 to ease pressure during peak periods.
The Tet 2026 transport plan runs from February 3 to March 8, corresponding to the lunar period from December 16, 2025 to January 20, 2026. During this time, the railway sector will operate 62 trains with more than 790 passenger carriages, offering around 384,000 seats, most of them on the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City corridor.
As of January 21, about 248,000 Tet tickets had been sold, with nearly 70 per cent purchased online. Tickets for many peak days before and after Tet on the Ho Chi Minh City-Hanoi route and vice versa have already sold out.
Tet ticket prices this year are on average 5-10 per cent higher than normal days due to rising fuel and input costs, as well as the refurbishment of more than 100 carriages to improve service quality.
On the Ho Chi Minh City-Hanoi route, soft-seat tickets are typically priced at around VND 2 million per trip, while sleeper berths cost about VND 3.4 million per passenger. On shorter routes such as Ho Chi Minh City-Danang or Ho Chi Minh City-Quy Nhon, fares range from several hundred thousand dong to about VND 3 million per trip, depending on seat type and travel date.