First look at HCMC metro train

The name of the line is painted in front, images released on Monday by the HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) show.

The aluminum alloy train will have three cars, each 19.5 meters long, and can travel at up to 110 kilometers per hour on elevated stretches and 80 kph underground.

It can carry up 930 passengers, 147 of them seated. The train could be lengthened to up to six cars.

Japanese contractor Hitachi is conducting the final safety checks on the train before delivering it to the city this year.

A view of the inside of the train. Photo courtesy of HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR).

Since Vietnam has limited travel from other countries because of the coronavirus pandemic, Japanese experts could not come and so the train cannot arrive this month as scheduled.

MAUR is working to get the train delivered this quarter.

It is one of 17 trains that will operate on the Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien Metro line, which is scheduled to have test runs on the elevated section in the third quarter.

The line, whose work began in August 2012, is now 75 percent complete. It spans 19.7 kilometers from Long Binh in District 9 to Ben Thanh in District 1 with a total of 14 stations, 11 elevated and three underground.

It was approved in 2007 at a cost of VND17.4 trillion ($747 million).

Last November the National Assembly allowed city authorities to approve a new cost estimate of VND43.6 trillion ($1.87 billion) after design changes and a strengthening of the Japanese yen increased the price.