At the briefing on the operation results of the Cat Linh – Ha Dong railway after the first 2 years of operation in January 2024, Chairman of the Shareholders’ Council – General Director of Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Company (Hanoi Metro) Mr. Vu Hong Truong said that the Cat Linh – Ha Dong train began its operation on November 6, 2021 and until January 2024, it has been 26 months, of which since November 6, 2023, the project has been under the management, safe operation of a team of Vietnamese management personnel, technical officers, and train operators, specifically from 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 has transported nearly 20 million passengers. In September 2023 alone, the train set three records.
The first record, on September 2, 2023, the train transported the highest number of passengers in a single day ever, with 56,000 people;
The second record, on a working day, not a public holiday (specifically on September 28, 2023), the train transported 37,000 passengers;
The third record in September, the train transported over 1 million passengers. Compared to other passenger transport methods, currently each route transports an average of 200,000 to 300,000 passengers per month, which is encouraging for the Cat Linh – Ha Dong train.
The Cat Linh – Ha Dong passenger train is currently operated by train operators from Hanoi Metro Company
Changing passengers’ travel habits
Information about the daily train passenger traffic, Hanoi Metro leadership provided the statistics. Previously (when the train just started operating) on weekends like Saturday and Sunday, the train transported over 30,000 passengers, now on weekends this number is from 22,000 to 24,000 passengers. However, on working days, the number of passengers is from 35,000 to 36,000.
“This shows that the number of passengers who experience the train has decreased, instead the number of passengers who go to school, work… with a real demand for taking the train has been maintained. This fact is also reported by the Hanoi Department of Transport that the train operation along the corridor has reduced congestion points on the road,” Truong said.
Commenting on the achieved results when operating the Cat Linh – Ha Dong train, Hanoi Metro leadership said that there are some notable results, including:
The first result, the Cat Linh – Ha Dong train has proven the superiority of fast, large, civilized, and modern transportation method through practice;
The second result, this result is very important, the operation of the Cat Linh – Ha Dong train has changed travel habits and gradually built a traffic culture towards civilization and modernity – which means previously when approaching the stations to get on the train, passengers often reacted, even got upset because there was no place to park their motorcycles or bicycles, now many passengers have accepted leaving their personal vehicles and walking a distance of 1 to 2 km to the station to go to school or work.
The third result, after two years of operation, Hanoi Metro Company in particular and Hanoi city in general have gradually built a team of urban railway operation managers in a professional manner, ready to operate, receive, and manage urban railway lines with modern and different technologies.
