Hanoi considers replacing BRT buses with urban railways

The thematic supervision team of the National Assembly Standing Committee has just conducted a field survey and worked in Hanoi city on the implementation of policies and laws on ensuring traffic order and safety from 2009 to the end of the year. 2023

Vice Chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee Duong Duc Tuan said that over the past 10 years, the city has implemented many solutions to ensure order and traffic safety. is continuing, with the city setting a goal that after 2030, it will develop large forms of public transport to reduce personal vehicles, including stopping motorbikes in inner-city areas.

To implement this policy, the city is currently closely following the Prime Minister’s plans, including the Capital’s General Plan in 2011 and the transportation plan in 2016. According to these plans, the period From 2011 to 2030, the city built 8 rapid lines – BRT, but currently only 1 has been built. But because there is only 1 line and priority lane is built on the basis of taking 1/3 of the cross-section of the Giang Vo radial axis – Lang Ha – Le Van Luong has a large traffic flow, so the operating units are trying their best, but the operation and exploitation of the route has many limitations.

Congested roads and road infrastructure have not met the correct design, leading to BRT buses having difficulty operating.

According to Mr. Tuan, because the traffic volume is heavy and the priority lane is being operated according to standards, rapid buses operate no differently than regular buses. During peak hours, they still run slowly like regular bus routes. From this reality, in the upcoming adjustment of the general planning for traffic development, the city plans to replace the BRT bus route with the newly added urban railway line running the same route as Kim Ma – Yen Nghia

With urban railway lines, in addition to the 1 planned line, the city proposes to build 4 more lines, bringing the city’s total number of urban railway lines to 14, with a total length of 550 km. In addition, the city also proposed to build 3 monorail lines to reach difficult terrain and steep hills, in researched directions such as: Lien Ha (Dong Anh) – Tan Lap – An Khanh (Hoai Duc) is about 11 km long (route number 1); Mai Dich – My Dinh – Van Mo – Phuc La, Giap Bat – Thanh Liet – Phu Luong, about 22 km long (route 2); Nam Hong (Dong Anh) – Dai Thinh (Me Linh) is about 11 km long (route 3).

When are private vehicles restricted in the central area?

A representative of the Hanoi Department of Transport said that in order to limit private vehicles in the central area, reduce congestion and environmental pollution, the Resolution of the City People’s Council sets that by 2030, public transportation must meet the needs of 50% of the population. up to 60% of people’s needs, but currently only about 19%. There are only 6 more years left to achieve the above goal, which is very difficult for departments and cities. To implement these solutions, in addition to expanding the bus network and service area, the city has recently been pushing Quickly build and put into operation large public passenger transport projects, including urban railways.

Mr. Vu Hong Truong, General Director of Hanoi Railway One Member Limited Liability Company (Hanoi Metro), said that although it has just been put into operation for more than a year, the Cat Linh – Ha Dong railway now transports every day. about 37 thousand passengers with 80% of passengers using monthly tickets, contributing to reducing traffic volume during rush hours, changing the habit of using public transport and gradually building a traffic culture according to civilized and modern direction.

The survey team of the National Assembly Standing Committee went on a field trip on a bus.

Proposing to the monitoring team, Mr. Truong stated that currently urban railways are still being regulated by the Railway Law and related decrees. The current mechanism does not meet development requirements, so a specific and groundbreaking mechanism is needed to develop, manage and operate urban railways.

Mr. Bui Hong Son, Deputy General Director of Hanoi Transport Corporation (Transerco), said that Transerco is currently operating 68 bus routes, accounting for 54% of the market share in this field in the city. Each year, Transerco has 3.3 million vehicles transporting about 150 million passengers. The BRT bus route alone, in the past 7 years, has made 853 thousand trips, transporting 92 million passengers.

According to Mr. Son, the orientation of the Government and Hanoi city is that after 2035, public vehicles will be converted from using diesel engines to electric engines. However, the investment capital for electric vehicles is quite large, plus some diesel vehicles are still in good use and cannot be eliminated immediately, causing Transerco to face many difficulties in capital when implementing the roadmap. Convert vehicles to electric vehicles.

Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee Don Tuan Phong said that through the survey, in addition to grasping the current status of planning implementation and ensuring order and traffic safety, it also recorded the problems and shortcomings of the National Assembly. This field is in development. From there, it helps the Supervision Team and, more broadly, the National Assembly consider developing and amending traffic laws in general and public transport in particular to be appropriate and realistic.

Mr. Trong