The Draft Vietnamese Standard (TCVN) “Railway applications – Infrastructure – Track alignment design parameters - urban rail”, prepared by the University of Transport Technology (under the Ministry of Construction), has been developed using the method of adopting the original standard (DIN EN 17536:2023, Railway applications – Infrastructure – Track alignment design parameters – Urban rail), with appropriate adjustments to suit the conditions of Vietnam. The draft is currently published on the Ministry of Construction’s Website to collect public comments and feedback.
This is an important standard within the series of Vietnamese standards on urban rail that the Ministry of Construction is promoting for completion.
In Vietnam, urban rails are a type of rail transport operating within inner-city areas, characterized by modern and technically complex systems. According to the decisions approving urban railway development planning issued by the Prime Minister, as of December 2023, there are seven centrally governed provinces/cities with approved urban railway development plans, namely: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Can Tho, Bac Ninh, and Quang Ninh Province. By 2050, these provinces/cities are expected to have more than 680 km of various types of urban railway lines.
Currently, several urban railway lines are under construction or being implemented in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, such as: Line 1 Ngoc Hoi – Yen Vien; Line 2 Nam Thang Long – Tran Hung Dao; Line 2A Cat Linh – Ha Dong; Line 3 Nhon – Hanoi Station; Line 1 Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien; Line 2 Ben Thanh – Tham Luong; and Line 5-1 Nga Tu Bay Hien – Cau Sai Gon. Among these, Line 2A Cat Linh – Ha Dong in Hanoi has been in operation since November 6, 2021.
In the context that Vietnam has not yet established a complete system of technical standards and regulations for urban railways, the implementation of each urban railway project has relied on several relevant Vietnamese standards (TCVN) as well as many foreign standards (from Europe, Japan, China, etc.). This has led to certain difficulties during project implementation, such as the need to repeatedly revise and supplement standards, prolonged timelines due to administrative procedures, impacts on adjustments to total project investment, and challenges in controlling the prices of technological products.
According to the explanatory report of the Draft Vietnamese Standard (TCVN) “Railway applications – Infrastructure – Track alignment design parameters for urban railways”, the standard specifies rules and limits for track alignment design parameters, including sections within turnout areas and crossings. Some of these parameters are functions of speed. In addition, for certain existing lines, the standard defines rules and limits for determining permissible speeds in relation to track alignment parameters.
This standard applies to railway networks providing passenger transport in urban areas or suburban regions that are not connected to the national railway network.
Within the scope of this standard, urban railway networks include: networks designed with dedicated tracks separated from road traffic and pedestrian pathways; and networks (or parts of networks) that are not separated from road traffic and pedestrian pathways, where tracks may share lanes.
Regarding rails, this standard applies to railway systems that use steel wheels running on flat-bottom steel rails or grooved rails. It does not apply to railway systems with special structures such as rack railways, mountain railways, or other types of cable-hauled railway systems.
The standard defines parameters and specifies rules and limits for the nominal railway gauge of 1,435 mm with permissible speeds of up to 120 km/h. For other nominal track gauges, the standard provides conversion principles used to determine the applicable limits.
VPDAĐS – TECCO1