VIETNAM: The People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City held a groundbreaking ceremony on January 15 for the start of civil works on the 11·3 km, mostly underground metro Line 2.
The first section of Line 2 will run from Ben Thanh Market station on Line 1 to Tham Luong in the northwest of the city. It will have 11 stations; 9·3 km of the route and 10 stations will be underground and the rest of the line will be elevated. The alignment passes through some of the most congested parts of the city.
The GoA4 automated metro line is to be designed for 110 km/h operation, and will have a fleet of three-car trainsets.
The civil works are being undertaken through a consortium led by multi-sector industrial holding company THACO. In December, THACO signed an agreement for South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem to support the local production of high speed and urban rail rolling stock in Vietnam, and plans to invest in a rolling stock manufacturing facility, test track and a maintenance centre at its Mechanical Engineering & Supporting Industry Park in Ho Chi Minh City.
Domestic financing
Line 2 was approved as early as 2010, and project promoter MAUR started the relocation of utilities with a previous groundbreaking ceremony in February 2024, but civil works had not been launched until now.
The delays have largely been attributed to land acquisition running into problems and escalating costs. In 2010, the total cost of Line 2 was estimated at US$1·3bn, rising to an estimated US$2·1bn today.
The project was originally planned to be funded by an official development assistance loan, and offers from several international funding bodies were evaluated including one from a consortium of Germany’s KfW, the Asian Development Bank and the European Investment Bank, but none of these were formally finalised.
The Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee decided in November 2025 to use the municipal and national budget to complete Line 2. Completion is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2030.
‘The commencement of metro Line 2 at this stage is of particular importance and coincides with many favourable conditions: land clearance has been completed; project funding has been transferred to the city’s budget and sufficient medium-term capital for 2026-30 has been allocated’, said Bui Xuan Cuong, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee during the groundbreaking ceremony.
- Learn more: read our feature article about the expansion of the nascent metro networks of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in the October 2024 issue of Railway Gazette International.
