On October 30, investor VinSpeed and the Vinhomes - SGC general contractor consortium announced the simultaneous start of work on several parts of the Ben Thanh - Can Gio railway project at a beam-casting site in Tan My Ward, Ho Chi Minh City.
City officials urged the investor to select qualified contractors and study cooperation with leading railway technology companies. Authorities said they would support the investor and help resolve difficulties.
The contractor began pouring concrete for a prestressed box beam for the railway viaduct. It had earlier produced a first trial beam weighing 750 tonnes. Three beam-casting yards have been prepared, and the plan calls for 1,300 full-span precast beams over about 15 months, with each yard producing one to two spans a day.
The investor ordered a 900-tonne crane and brought pile-drilling machines and cranes to the site. Contractors plan to bring up to 10,000 workers, engineers and technical staff during peak periods.
New work fronts will be opened at Ben Thanh Station, in the Saigon Port area for TBM tunnel construction, at the Rach Dia and Ong Doi bridges, near Can Gio Bridge and at other sites where land has been handed over.
The underground Ben Thanh Station near September 23 Park will be the line's starting point. It will be more than 565 metres long, with an excavation pit about 34 metres deep, and will connect to the existing Ben Thanh Station on Metro Line 1.
In the Nha Rong - Khanh Hoi port area, machinery has been positioned for the underground section along Nguyen Tat Thanh Street. A 13-metre-diameter TBM is expected to be lowered there. The tunnel will connect to a 321-metre cut-and-cover tunnel and a 266-metre open U-shaped section.
The railway will be 54 kilometres long. Its estimated cost is about VND 102.43 trillion in corporate funds, excluding about VND 12.784 trillion for land clearance from the state budget. The first 12 kilometres are designed for up to 120 km/h, while the section outside the city is designed for up to 350 km/h.
The first phase will have terminal stations at Ben Thanh and Can Gio. Four more stations, Tan Thuan, Tan My, Nha Be and Binh Khanh, are planned later as passenger demand grows. A depot and operations control centre will be located in Can Gio.
Sources: Dân Trí
