On April 21st afternoon, in Lang Son city, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the Conference on Announcing the Planning and Promoting Investment for the province of Lang Son in 2024.
According to the provincial plan, Lang Son sets a target to become one of the growth poles, economic centers in the midland and mountainous region of the north, an increasingly important “bridge” in economic and trade connections between Vietnam, other ASEAN countries, China and Europe. Lang Son commits to a stable society, securing its defense, national security and ecological environment.
The province also strives to achieve an economic scale and GRDP per capita among the top 5 provinces in the midland and mountainous region of the North by 2030. By 2050, Lang Son will have a modern and dynamic economy, enabling digital life, maintaining its position as a locality with one of the most developed systems of road and railway border gates in Vietnam.
The Prime Minister requested Lang Son to prioritize investments in the Hanoi – Lang Son high-speed railway – Photo: VGP
Speaking at the conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested Lang Son to promptly develop a plan to implement its provincial plan, and define its priorities, progress and resources to carry out programs and projects laid out in the plan..
The province needs to prioritize investment in important and urgent projects that directly contribute to the socio-economic development targets and have far-reaching impact. Of which, the construction of the Hanoi – Lang Son high-speed railway to connect with China and the development of a smart border gate are top priorities.
Breaking ground for the Lang Son – Hanoi high-speed railway before 2030
Within April, the Hanoi – Lang Son high-speed railway has been mentioned several times. The first time was in the announcement of the Government’s Standing Committee on the planning for the Red River Delta region for 2021-2030, with a vision toward 2050, on April 8th.
Specifically, in the announcement issued by the Government Office on April 8th, regarding transport development space, the Government’s Standing Committee requested research and development, as well as organization of transport that is appropriate and innovative, with the aim of resolving traffic congestion in the region and increasing regional connectivity; reviewing and supplementing, accelerating the planning of railways and subway systems in the capital of Hanoi; developing the North – South high-speed railway (running through the Red River Delta region).
Notably, the announcement emphasizes “prioritizing preparation and breaking ground for the Lao Cai – Hanoi – Hai Phong – Quang Ninh high-speed railway and the Lang Son – Hanoi high-speed railway to connect with China before 2030”.
The Hanoi – Lang Son high-speed railway is instructed to be prioritized for early construction – An illustrative image created using the AI Chat GPT
The second time was during the official visit to China by the Chairman of the National Assembly, Vuong Dinh Hue, also on 8th April. Accordingly, at the meeting with the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, Zhao Leji, the Chairman of the National Assembly proposed that China effectively implement the pilot project of a smart border gate, improve cargo clearance efficiency, facilitate Vietnamese goods to transit through the Chinese railway to third countries through the Asia-Europe railway.
Mr. Vuong Dinh Hue also wished the two countries to jointly handle the difficulties of some cooperative projects, accelerate the progress of China’s non-refundable aid to Vietnam. Research cooperation in constructing some standard-gauge railway projects for the Hanoi – Lao Cai, Hanoi – Quang Ninh, Hanoi – Lang Son lines.
The Hanoi – Lang Son railway starts at Gia Lam station (Hanoi) and ends at Dong Dang station (Lang Son).
Dong Dang is an international transit station located in the Dong Dang – Lang Son Border Gate Economic Zone. It has 10 railways that are of both 1,000mm and 1,435mm gauges and plays a pivotal role in connecting to the international transit railway to Bang Tuong station (China).
The Hanoi – Lang Son railway has a length of about 167km and has 23 stations along the entire route. It has the maximum capacity to operate 19 pairs of trains per day.
Also during his visit and meeting with the leaders of leading Chinese corporations in transport, railways and energy, the Chairman of the National Assembly met with Mr. Dai He Gen, Chairman of the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC).
The Chairman of CRCC stated that the corporation is implementing a number of infrastructure projects in Vietnam and affirmed its continuous commitment to contributing to Vietnam’s infrastructure development, including railway design and construction.
