VietNamNet Bridge - If Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong can travel by train on the 1m gauge rail at the speed of 80-90 km per hour, Dr. Tran Dinh Ba says he is willing to give Dong $5 million.

The statement is given as a bet by Ba for the feasibility of the plan to modernize the rail system that the Transport Ministry planned to carry out.

"I bet $5 million for Mr. Dong to explain the use and upgrade of the 1m gauge rail. Around the world, not many countries currently use this gauge of rail as it is likely to cause accidents," said Dr. Ba said.

According to Ba, the project to upgrade the existing railway gauge in order to shorten the traveling time for the north - south route to 21-23 hours "is inappropriate, because this type of 1m gauge railway is obsolete." The world has continued to upgrade the rail gauge to 1.435m to 1.52m and 1.62m. The traveling time for the existing north-south route of Vietnam is still at least 32 hour/trip, but accidents still occur, Ba said.

On that basis, Ba challenged the Deputy Minister of Transport to be on the pilot train with the speed of 120 km per hour to achieve an average speed of 80-90 km/h only.

"If Mr. Dong is successful, he will be the hero and will receive $5 million. If Mr. Dong could not perform and when the railway goes into operation and fatal accidents occur, then Mr. Dong has to pay me $5 million," Ba proposed.

Speaking to the Transport Newspaper, Deputy Minister Nguyen Ngoc Dong said that the relevant agencies have to seriously consider the issue raised by Dr. Ba, "but not for the betting."

"Ba’s proposal to build the 1.435 m gauge rail had been received and replied by the Ministry of Transport. We welcome suggestions and ideas contributed to the development of transportation in the country. But for possible implementation of these ideas, we should be based on facts, scientific and technical feasibility. Any railway development strategy and project are evaluated and assessed by consulting organizations and scientists very carefully," he said.

According to Deputy Minister Dong, the main reason to slow train speed in Vietnam is there are too many roads cutting the railways and many curves, not only the limited railway gauges. If these problems are solved, with the current 1m gauge railway, the average speed of the entire route can be raised to 80-90 km per hour, shortening the north - south journey to 24, 25 hours compared with the current time of 29.5 hours.

"This is a savings, effective and feasible plan in the current conditions," Dong stressed. By this time, in more than 70 percent of the journey, trains are able to run at the speed of 70 km/h and even 110km/h at some sections. But due to the weak bridges, weak tunnels and many roads cutting the railway, the speed of the whole route is limited.

On the development of railway transport, the Ministry of Transport agreed to the efficient exploitation of the existing railway route and to build a new railway in the future.

"Last weekend the Vietnam Railways Corporation organized a workshop on north - south rail development with the participation of many scientists and officials. The workshop received many comments of the leading experts in the field. The organizers had sent an invitation to Mr. Ba but he did not come," Dong said.

Before Ba offered the bet, the Ministry of Transport had announced a draft blueprint to build a broad gauge railway connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, but the plan also includes elements of the controversial express railway plan that the parliament has rejected as costly and ineffective.

Deputy Transport Minister Nguyen Ngoc Dong said the draft plan has three main elements. It would upgrade the existing gauge railway, build a double-track broad gauge one that would allow trains to run at between 160 and 200 km per hour, and two express railway sections that that were originally supposed to host bullet trains.

Currently, it takes between 29-33 hours to cover the 1,726 kilometers between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City on the one-meter, single-track gauge railway line developed more than a hundred years ago during the French colonial period. The travel time actually has been reduced from 72 hours more than a decade ago thanks to a shorter route with fewer stops.

Dong said the total cost for upgrading the current railway line is estimated to be around VND40 trillion (US$1.9 billion). It will mainly serve cargo trains when the double-track railway is completed.

It will shorten travel time between Hanoi and HCMC to 21 hours, with trains able to reach maximum speeds of between 80-90 kph, after repairing the route at dangerous curves and installing barriers at crossroads.

He said the project will prioritize the repairs of dangerous sections by 2020 before renovating locomotives and carriages.

Mr. Tran Dinh Ba, a member of the Vietnam Economic Sciences, who became well-known in 2009 after offering a bet with Vietnam Airlines on the feasibility of a shorter, more direct air route between Hanoi and HCMC, wrote to transport minister Dinh La Thang, requesting that the ministry gets rid of the old railway line and build a double-track one.

VNE/Thanh Nien