The Ministry of Construction announced that, under the proposal, the railway will cover 175.2 kilometers, featuring a 1,435 mm standard gauge, designed for a maximum speed of 160 kilometers per hour.
It will handle passengers and freight, running through five localities, including Ho Chi Minh City, Tay Ninh, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, and Can Tho.
The route will consist of 56 percent bridges and 44 percent ground-level sections, including three river-crossing bridges, including Saigon, Vam Co Dong and Vam Co Tay, and two river-crossing bridges of Tien and Hau.
The project requires 801.5 hectares of land clearance, affecting 11,437 households that will need resettlement.
The consulting unit proposed that the project be implemented as a public investment project, with a total estimated cost of about VND173.643 trillion (US$6.6 billion) for Phase 1, with a focus of single track, design speed 160 kilometers per hour and about VND64.973 trillion (US$2.5 billion) for Phase 2 concentrating construction of double track, with design speed of 160 kilometers per hour.
The My Thuan Project Management Board proposes submitting the project’s investment policy for National Assembly approval in the fourth quarter of 2025; obtaining approval in the third quarter of 2026; commencing land clearance from the third quarter of 2026; completing the overall technical design in 2026; finalizing the detailed technical design and selecting construction contractors to begin construction by the end of 2027; and achieving substantial completion by 2035.
