VietNamNet Bridge - After nearly one year of construction, the pace of the overhead rail project implemented by the Chinese contractor is almost one quarter slower than the plan.

With a total investment of about $550 million, the Cat Linh - Ha Dong urban railway is a key project of Hanoi. As expected, this route will be tested in the first quarter of 2015. However, after almost one year of construction, the construction pace is slow. Tran Van Luc, Director of the Railways Project Management Unit, said that it does not affect the project and the project will be carried out at faster pace in the next phase to compensate for the current slow part.

Mr. Lu also said that according to the initial plan, the Cat Linh - Ha Dong urban rail project is scheduled to be completed in 2013. However, due to some objective conditions, the project should be back in time to 2015.

Regarding site clearance, Mr. Lu said that the current clearance task is only stuck in Ha Dong. The Ha Dong district authorities are urgently conducting site clearance.

The Cat Linh - Ha Dong urban railway project is invested by capital from China and the Vietnamese government’s reciprocal capital. The rail runs through Dong Da lake, Thai Thinh 1 to Lang road then goes to To Lich River and continues along Nguyen Trai Road to Ha Dong.

The rail is 13km long, with 12 stations, and is capable of transporting up to 28,000 passengers per hour per direction. It is considered as the traffic backbone contributing to solve the fundamental traffic problems from the urban cluster to the group of satellite towns in the east of Hanoi.

The pictures of the construction of Cat Linh - Ha Dong urban railway: