After many years of execution, Hanoi has put the Nhon - Hanoi Station and Cat Linh –Ha Dong into operation. The two metro routes serve 100,000 passengers each day, helping ease traffic jams on routes in the southern and western parts of the capital city. 

Vu Hong Truong, CEO of Metro Hanoi, said over 35,000 passengers travel with Cat Linh – Ha Dong metro a day. Of these, 47 percent use metro to go to the office, 45 percent to go to school and 8 percent for other purposes.

Hanoi has approved a master plan to build a metro system in 2024-2045, striving to build 400 kilometers, or 10 routes of metro with estimated investment capital of $50 billion.

Hanoians had to wait 15 years to travel on metro and it is unclear how many more years they will have to wait to have more 10 metro routes.

Nguyen Quang Huy, head of the Hanoi Institute of Construction Planning, said it would be a great challenge for the city to build hundreds of kilometers of subway as planned, and will not be easy to seek $50 billion in capital. 

“We built only two metro routes, Nhon - Hanoi Station and Cat Linh – Ha Dong, in the last 10 years. We need the strong determination of the whole political system to continue to build the other routes,” Huy said.

Hanoi Vice Mayor Duong Duc Tuan noted that if Hanoi develops 10 metro routes as shown in the plan and builds one after another, it will take 100 years to complete. 

To ensure uniform technical standards for the entire metro system, Hanoi plans to design a set of common standards and a set of major technical parameters to allow transport between lines, while optimizing investment costs, maintenance, repair and operation capacity.

To seek diverse revenue sources, Hanoi plans to allow private investors to invest in a part of the infrastructure and develop planned projects.

Hanoi Mayor Tran Sy Thanh said if Hanoi wants to have 300 kilometers of metro by 2035, it needs to have specific policies and ways to implement projects.

“We need to learn a lesson from the two metro lines and use the same technology for the next routes so that we can complete the building of the other 10 metro lines as scheduled,” Thanh said.

Quang Phong