North-south high-speed railway to require 13,800 staff

In a document on managing and utilizing the railway submitted to the Ministry of Transport, the company said 8.98 people for every kilometer of the railway on average would be needed to operate it. The first phase of the project, from 2027 to 2035, would involve two segments spanning 651 km and requiring over 5,940 people. The second phase, from 2035 to 2040, would see the completion of the last segment, spanning 894 km and requiring over 7,930 people.

Until 2027, the company expects to train 200 key personnel, including trainers, technicians, finance and project managers, using funds from the company and its subsidiaries.

The company plans to have two entities for the management, maintenance, and use of infrastructure for the project. Specifically, the high-speed railway management, maintenance and exploitation company would be responsible for infrastructure such as bridges, tunnels, roads, lighting and electrical systems of the project.

The high-speed railway transport company would meanwhile receive the vehicles, equipment, and industrial structures for the project transport business, and pay such rental fees. It would also call for the cooperation of other businesses with the project.

The Vietnam Railways Corporation would continue to operate and unify all existing railway systems through the railway transport operation center. It would also restructure itself, but organizational structure would still remain the same for the 2025-2030 period, albeit with increased personnel to manage both existing and high-speed railways.

In the 2030-2032 period, there would be great changes to the company’s organization structures with a differentiation between bodies organization managing existing railways, and another new department built to specifically manage high-speed railways.

In February 2019, the transport ministry presented before the government a report on the feasibility of the north-south high-speed railway project running through 20 cities and provinces. Its designed speed capacity would be 350 kph, while operational speed would be at 320 kph. At the end of 2022, inspectors from the project proposed the railway project to carry both passengers and goods, with the operation speed while carrying passengers at 225 kph and 160 kph for carrying goods.

The Politburo, the Communist Party's decision-making body, aims for the investment initiative of the project to be completed by 2025, and construction to begin before 2030. The project should be completed before 2045.