News #192: The metro line that HCMC should be building next
Xi Jinping visits Vietnam to talk (among other things) trains, Cambodia coastal development, installation of first ECRL track near Kuantan, ADB pledges $2.1B for Bataan-Cavite bridge, and more
Hello from Chiang Mai. This week I was set to publish an article about Chiang Mai, but once I started writing the article, it became a different article that needed more research. I’m also working on a transit map that is taking more time than I thought.
With two articles in draft, I published a short fact sheet about Line 4 of the HCMC Metro. This will be the main North-South line of the future metro, and it will interchange at Ben Thanh, which is a station with a 3-line interchange. This should be a priority line, and it was looking promising in 2015 (as was the HCMC metro in general).
News about the line went silent after that, and then this month a company from Turkey announced that it was interested in investing in the line.
Having a 3-line interchange is an unusual situation for new metros. It would effectively be 6 lines in all directions converging in the middle of the city. Hopefully there will be more updates to come.
Latest posts at Future Southeast Asia
Line 4 HCMC Metro – News and updates
Line 4 of the Ho Chi Minh City Metro (HCMC Metro) is a proposed North-South line of the Ho Chi Minh City transit system.
News
• How has China’s Belt and Road initiative impacted Southeast Asian countries?
• Asia's airports have to be reinvented for greener post-COVID world
🇰🇭 Cambodia
• Manet offers guidelines for coastal development
• Construction approvals down, investment up
• The intractable problem of land grabbing in Cambodia
🇮🇩 Indonesia
• The world’s fastest-sinking megacity has one last chance to save itself
• Govt grants Rp120bn subsidy for LRT Jabodebek
• Indonesian govt plans to develop financial center in IKN
🇱🇦 Laos
• China-Laos Railway records over 100,000 cross-border passengers
🇲🇾 Malaysia
• King officiates installation of first ECRL track near Kuantan
"The RM50 billion mega project, inaugurated on Aug 9, 2017, is scheduled to start operating in January 2027."
• Johor Sultan plans to revive the high-speed rail (HSR) link project with Singapore next year
• Johor govt to look into special lane at Second Link for Forest City’s SFZ
🇵🇭 Philippines
• ADB pledges $2.1B for Bataan-Cavite bridge
• PNR envisions modern, complete train terminals for commuters
• DOTr seeks funders for rail projects after China loans withdrawn
• 4 down, 2 more to go: ROW acquisition for NSCR almost done, DOTr chief says
• Capitol to hasten Bantayan Airport runaway expansion
🇸🇬 Singapore
• What upgrades and expansions to the MRT and LRT train networks can Singapore expect in 2024?
• Construction of West Coast station on Cross Island Line to start in first quarter of 2024
• Reducing land transport’s carbon footprint with improved MRT station designs and planting trees
• Kusu Island fully powered by solar energy, with Pulau Hantu to follow suit
• Worker caught dumping contruction waste into water channel at Harbourfront; NEA investigating
🇹🇭 Thailand
• PHOTO SPECIAL: New Hua Hin train station opens
• Loei's cable car project put on hold over environment concerns
🇻🇳 Vietnam
• Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Vietnam for the first time since 2017. There were expectations of talks about rail projects, in particular the Lao Cai-Hanoi-Haiphong line.
36 cooperation documents were signed between the two countries, with points 19 and 20 related to rail:
19. MoU between the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam and the National Development and Reform Commission of China on strengthening Vietnam-China railway cooperation.
20. MoU between the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam and the International Development Cooperation Agency of China on strengthening aid cooperation for railway development across the Vietnam – China border.
For a detailed wrap-up of the visit, Mike at
will have a summary this week.• Hanoi to build second airport in 2040
• PM wants new international airport built in Red River Delta