North-South rail travel set to resume in three days due to tunnel landslides
VOV.VN - Relevant forces are working around the clock as part of efforts to clean up rocks and soil that has disrupted North-South rail travel for several days due to a series of landslides inside Bai Gio tunnel in Khanh Hoa province, central Vietnam.
More than 200 workers, along with various vehicles, devices, and other specialised means, have been dispatched to the site in order to deal with the incident, said Le Quang Vinh, director of the Phu Khanh Raiway Transport branch.
Contractors met on April 14 to devise repair solutions, and they all expected that the railway line would be operational again in three or four days.
The workers cleared up approximately 230m3 of rocks and soils which fell down onto the track as a consequence of the first and second landslides on April 12 and April 13, but the third landslide on the evening of April 13 jeopardised their efforts. Relevant agencies also discovered another hole about 40cm wide above the top of the tunnel.
The incident forced the suspension of the North-South railway line, with trains traveling from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi halting at Gia station in Khanh Hoa province and trains departing from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City stopping at Tuy Hoa station in Phu Yen province.
The railway sector has deployed vehicles to transport passengers between the two stations as a means of continuing with their itinerary.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has requested that the Ministry of Transport mobilise all available resources to promptly handle the landslides and to accelerate the reopening of the North-South railway line.
