Saigon Railway Transport Joint Stock Company on Friday launches low-cost train services between HCMC and Di An in the southern province of Binh Duong with single fares starting from as low as VND5,000 per passenger.

The company said on April 13 that the train plying the HCMC-Di An rail line will stop at Go Vap, Binh Trieu and Song Than railway stations for passengers to hop on and hop off.

Passengers will have to pay a one-way fare of VND5,000 to travel through a maximum of two stations and VND10,000 for a longer journey. Passengers will pay the fares after they get on the train.

The company will arrange one train car for luggage and two air-conditioned ones for passengers.

They can check in their motorbikes if they get on and get off at Song Than and Di An stations with a fee of VND5,000, while bicycles are free.

Dao Anh Tuan, general director of Saigon Railway Transport Joint Stock Company, told the Daily that the company will pilot the budget train services until June 30, or two days after a new Ghenh rail bridge on the north-south rail line is opened to traffic as scheduled.

After that, the company will extend such services to Bien Hoa Railway Station in Dong Nai Province.

The HCMC Department of Transportation said buses on routes 8, 50, 93, 91 and 19 will be arranged at the railway stations of the HCMC-Di An route to transport passengers to Ben Thanh and Binh Tay markets and other parts of the city.

The low-cost train services are expected to help reduce the number of people using motorbikes to travel from Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces to HCMC, thus reduce motorcycle traffic in the city.

The train has five cars to transport passengers from HCMC to Song Than Railway Station in Binh Duong Province before they are transferred to Bien Hoa Railway Station by bus to continue their travels to central and northern provinces.

The shuttle bus service will stop after the new Ghenh rail bridge in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province is put into use.

It will replace the old Ghenh Bridge, which collapsed after it was struck by a sand-transporting barge on March 20. The collapse disrupted all train services to and from HCMC.