Japan to Help Vietnam Build Hanoi-Noi Bai Railway

Japan will provide technical assistances for Vietnam to build Hanoi-Noi Bai express railway, using Japanese Shinkansen technology, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported, citing the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport. Under a memorandum of understanding recently signed between the Vietnamese ministry and the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan will send its experts to Vietnam to support the project. The 37.7 –km express railway route will link the Ha Dong district to Noi Bai International Airport in Soc Son district, the Vietnamese ministry added. Vietnam Railway Corporation (VRC), the project investor, said it is still seeking the Ministry of Transport’s approval to use Japanese official development assistance (ODA) for the project. If approved, the corporation will start the project in the third quarter of this year and put it into trial operations in the second quarter of 2015. Earlier, VRC and Japan-based Itochu Group had a talk about the railway construction under the Japanese Shinkansen style.