At the information session on the operation results of the Cat Linh – Ha Dong railway after the first 2 years of operation in January 2024, Chairman of the Board of Directors – General Director of Hanoi Metro Joint Stock Company (Hanoi Metro) Mr. Vu Hong Truong said that the Cat Linh – Ha Dong train started operating from November 6, 2021 and by January 2024, it had completed 26 months of operation, including the period from November 6, 2023, when the project was under the management and safe operation of the Vietnamese management team, technical staff and train drivers, specifically Hanoi Metro Company.
Regarding the operation results, Mr. Truong said that by the end of 2023 (after 26 months of operation), the Cat Linh – Ha Dong train had transported nearly 20 million passengers. In September 2023 alone, the train set three records.
The first record was on September 2, 2023, when the train transported the highest number of passengers in a day, reaching 56,000.
The second record was on a working day, not a public holiday (September 28, 2023), when the train transported 37,000 passengers.
The third record in September was when the train transported over 1 million passengers. Compared to other passenger transport modes, it is encouraging that each month the line is transporting an average of 200,000 to 300,000 passengers with the Cat Linh – Ha Dong train.
The Cat Linh – Ha Dong passenger train is currently operated by the train drivers at Hanoi Metro Company
Changing the commuting habits of passengers
Regarding the daily passenger traffic, Hanoi Metro leaders have provided statistics. Previously, on weekends like Saturday and Sunday, the train transported less than 30,000 passengers, but now on weekends this number ranges from 22,000 to 24,000. However, on working days, the number of passengers is from 35,000 to 36,000.
“This shows that the number of passengers using the train for experience has decreased, instead it is passengers going to school, work… with real travel needs that have been maintained. This fact has also been reported by the Hanoi Department of Transport, stating that along the corridors of the Cat Linh – Ha Dong trains, congestion points on the road have been reduced,” Mr. Truong said.
When asked about the results achieved during the operation of the Cat Linh – Ha Dong train, Hanoi Metro leaders said there were some outstanding results, including:
The first result is that the Cat Linh – Ha Dong train has proven the superiority of fast, large-scale, civilized and modern transportation methods.
The second result is extremely important – the operation of the Cat Linh – Ha Dong train has changed commuting habits and gradually built a culture of civilized and modern traffic – that is, in the past when approaching stations to board the train, passengers would often react, even be upset because there was no place to park their motorcycles or bicycles, but now many passengers are willing to walk distances from 1 to 2 km to the station, to go to school or work.
The third result, after two years of operation, Hanoi Metro Company, and the city of Hanoi in general, have gradually built a team of professional urban railway operation managers, ready to operate, receive and manage urban railway lines with different modern technologies.
