Vietnam plans to build a high-speed railway from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh

Vietnam has been an increasingly popular tourist destination for several years. This beautiful country has all the best of Southeast Asia: delicious food, unearthly landscapes and European-friendly prices. The only problem with travelling in Vietnam has been the duration of transports. Vietnam is a narrow but long country, stretching over 2,000 kilometres. The journey from the capital, Hanoi, to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest city, takes about 30 hours, so it is usually covered by plane. Now, the journey between Vietnam's two largest cities is to be dramatically shortened thanks to a modern rail system. What are the details?
 

From 30 to five hours. Vietnam's rail revolution
 

The Vietnamese parliament has approved plans to build a high-speed railway linking Hanoi, the capital in the north of the country, with Ho Chi Minh in the south, the former Saigon and Vietnam's largest city. The cost of construction has been estimated at 67 billion US dollars. The length of the track is expected to be more than 1,500 kilometres and the journey between the two cities is to be reduced from 30, to five hours. Trains will be able to run at a maximum speed of 350 kilometres per hour on this route. Construction is likely to start in 2027, with initial completion of the project scheduled for around 2025. Chinese companies are the favourites to complete the railway line.
 

Source: globaltimes.cn
Photo: Radek Kucharski, Flickr