Hanoi plans monorail system to ease congestion

Hanoi is planning to build a monorail system to ease its traffic congestion and connect the existing railway routes.

The municipal People's Committee, in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport, is working on a detailed plan of the project. A pilot route will be built with the funding expected to come from the build-operate-transfer investment.

Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang has assigned the Transport Engineering Design Incorporation to take charge of the planning.

A plan to build a monorail route in the capital city was first proposed in 2010 by the Vietnam Construction and Import-Export Corporation (Vinaconex). It aimed to build a 38-kilometre monorail route in western Hanoi with the initial aim of serving 60,000 passengers daily. 

Under the new plan, there will be 14 stations and the trains will run 4.5 metres above the ground at an average speed of 70 kilometres per hour.

The fares will be affordable for low-income earners, according to Vinaconex.