This is what Hanoi’s first subway train may look like

Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Board has signed a US$340 million contract with French company Alstom for a metro system.

Under the contract, the French urban mobility supplier will supply and integrate 10 train sets, each with a capacity for 900 passengers, for the city’s Metro Line 3, linking Nhon and Hanoi Station.

It will also build 12 stations and one depot for maintenance.

The contract is sponsored by the French government and will be carried out in four years.

The planned design for the metro train that Alstom is set to supply to Hanoi. Photo courtesy of Alstom

The 12.5-kilometer line is designed to carry 8,600 people per hour for each direction. It is one of several planned for the capital’s metropolitan area. Together they will form a rail network that is hoped to help ease traffic congestion and reduce emissions.

Work on the line began in 2010, with the cost estimate originally set at US$1.2 billion and operation scheduled in 2017. But funding delays may stretch the deadline to 2021.

Hanoi officials said the city will need billions of dollars to develop transport infrastructure over the next five years, but funding is tight and this could affect the city’s growth prospects.

There are more than five million motorbikes on Hanoi’s roads and the city is adding as many as 19,000 newly registered vehicles each month.

With the number of vehicles growing 10% and road space at only 2% a year, traffic in Hanoi is on course for crippling gridlocks, experts say.