The Nhon-Hanoi Railway, with its elevated and underground sections, is the second most expensive urban railway project in Vietnam, costing approximately 34.826 trillion VND (approximately 1.5 billion USD)
At the stations, passengers can purchase tickets directly from staff or from ticket vending machines. To buy a ticket from the automated ticket vending machine, passengers insert cash into the machine and select their destination station. The buttons on the machine are touch-sensitive. After receiving the money, the machine will dispense the ticket (a plastic card) and change (if any). However, in the first 15 days, the Hanoi Urban Railway Management Board mainly distributed free tickets through counters, and the ticket vending machines were not widely used.
Another unique feature in Vietnam is that the Nhon-Hanoi Railway tickets are coin-shaped, with an engraving of Hanoi’s iconic One Pillar Pagoda, which delights passengers. This is a special gift from the Hanoi Urban Railway Management Board to the people who have been waiting for this train for 14 years.
After receiving their tickets, passengers swipe their cards to board the train. The Hanoi Urban Railway Management Board has deployed a large number of staff to guide passengers who are unfamiliar with the urban railway system. As of 11 am today, the Nhon-Hanoi urban railway line has attracted more than 9,000 passengers.
Retired military personnel were among the passengers on this morning’s train. Mr. Le Van Duc, a retired army major residing in Chua Ha, Cau Giay, Hanoi, expressed his joy at being able to experience the Hanoi metro today. He hopes that in the future, the train will become an important means of transportation, contributing to the lives of the capital’s residents.
At 9 am on August 8, the train carriages were packed with passengers. The passengers trying out the train were diverse, ranging from the elderly to children, students, office workers, and others eager to ride the capital’s second electric train line. For the first three months, the train will operate from 5:30 am to 10 pm, with a train frequency of 10 minutes.
Pham Ha Chi, a 21-year-old student at Hanoi University of Industry, said that since the elevated railway station is right next to her school, she took the opportunity to experience it before class. Ha Chi was unfamiliar with Hanoi’s new public transportation system and hopes to buy a monthly pass in the future to commute to school and go out daily on the Nhon-Cau Giay route.
Mr. Bui Minh Ha (from Nhon, Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi), Mr. Cuong and Ms. Hoa (from Group 5, Cau Dien Ward, Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi), and Mr. Bui Xuan Mon (from Cau Dien Ward, Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi) all expressed their enthusiasm for the Nhon-Hanoi Railway during their first experience.
Ms. Mai, a resident of An Khanh, Hoai Duc, Hanoi, took her three children on the Nhon-Hanoi electric train. The family was most impressed by the coin-shaped tickets featuring the One Pillar Pagoda, a symbol of Hanoi’s third urban railway line. Ms. Mai hopes that in the future, there will be an elevated train line passing through the An Khanh area so that she and her children can use this modern means of transportation daily.
The Nhon-Hanoi Railway was packed with excited passengers. VIDEO: Thai Ha
The Nhon-Hanoi urban railway line is a radial line that runs from the outskirts of the capital into the inner city. Its operation will help reduce traffic pressure, congestion, and the burden on bus routes with the same itinerary. The Hanoi Transportation Management and Operation Center has also completed a plan to enhance passenger connectivity and transfer by bus. Along the Nhon-Hanoi urban railway line, there are 36 bus routes in operation, including 33 subsidized and 3 non-subsidized routes, 2 passenger transfer points at Cau Giay and Nhon, and 32 bus stops (16 stops from Cau Giay to Nhon and 16 stops from Nhon to Cau Giay).
The Nhon-Hanoi urban railway is the second most expensive urban railway project in Vietnam, with a total investment of 34.826 trillion VND. The other urban railway line in Hanoi, the Cat Linh-Ha Dong line, was inaugurated in 2021 with a total investment of 18.002 trillion VND.
The urban railway project with the highest investment in Vietnam at present is the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line, with an estimated cost of 43.7 trillion VND and a length of about 19.7 km, including 3 underground stations and 11 elevated stations.
