THE Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam says that a seven-day programme of continuous trial operations is now underway as metro Line 1 prepares to open in July.
MAUR reports that work on the 20km Line 1 from Ben Thanh to Suoi Tien is now 97.5% complete. Line 1 will serve a total of 14 stations, three of which are underground.
Trial operations are being conducted over the Tet or Lunar New Year public holiday, which runs from February 8 to 14. During this time, a team of 40 including staff from project suppliers will test systems and all 17 trains of the Line 1 fleet supplied by Hitachi.
Each three-car train is 61.5m long and can accommodate up to 930 passengers, with seats for 147 and 783 standing. The trains will operate at up to 110km/h on elevated sections of Line 1 and up to 80km/h on the underground section between Ben Thanh and Opera House.
As well as the 17 trains supplied under a Yen 37bn ($US 349m) contract signed in June 2013, Hitachi has been responsible for tracklaying and electrical and mechanical works on Line 1, as well as supplying signalling and telecommunications, platform screen doors and an automatic fare collection system.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) has provided 83% of the $US 2.5bn cost of Line 1, with the rest contributed by the city government.
Nippon Koei Group has acted as main designer and consultant, with the elevated sections built by a joint venture between Sumitomo and Vietnamese state-owned contractor Cienco 6. The underground section has been built by a joint venture of Shimizu and Maeda of Japan.
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