The Cat Linh-Ha Dong elevated urban railway will come into commercial operation in this December, despite rumours about a 2021 date.

“I do not know the origin of the information that the Cat Linh-Ha Dong elevated urban railway project’s construction will be delayed until 2021, but it is nothing but a rumour,” Vu Hong Phuong, deputy director of the board of management of the Railway Project Management Unit under the Ministry of Transport, confimed to Zing.vn.

Phuong added that to date, the construction of the segment was 95 per cent completed and 80 per cent of the equipment has been imported and is ready to be deployed.

According to the plan, the project will come into trial operation in September before starting commercial operation three months later.

The project’s construction was kicked off in October 2011 with an initial estimated investment capital sum of $552 million, $419 million of which was borrowed from China. The project was earlier planned to be officially launched in 2016, then the total investment was adjusted to $868 million, with loans from China increasing by around $250 million, to $669 million.

The 13-kilometre Cat Linh-Hadong elevated railway will have 12 stations and a depot linking Dong Da district’s Cat Linh Street and Ha Dong district’s Yen Nghia Bus Station. Once completed, the trains will transport up to 2,110 passengers at an average speed of 35 and a maximum of 80 kilometres per hour.

However, the construction of the project has been delayed numerous times. At present, around 95 per cent of the project has been completed, while the remaining 5 per cent depends greatly on the disbursement of the remaining $250 million.

VIR