Deputy Minister of Construction provides new information related to the North-South high-speed railway

On January 15, the University of Transport held a seminar with the theme "Practical and challenging in building a common railway and road bridge".

Here, Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Minh Ha, Deputy Minister of Construction, provided many new information related to the orientation of infrastructure development, including contents related to the North-South high-speed railway.

According to Deputy Minister Pham Minh Ha, the Ministry of Construction is currently directing the My Thuan Project Management Board to study the construction plan of Can Tho 2 bridge with a scale equivalent to the existing Can Tho bridge. According to the Deputy Minister of Construction, if only a road bridge is built, the project will be more favorable because the system of standards and regulations is complete. However, the Ministry is considering a more daring option, which is to build a bridge combining road and railway to go together.

The My Thuan Project Management Board has prepared a pre-feasibility report to seek opinions from relevant ministries and branches. According to initial assessments, the shared travel plan faces many difficulties due to differences in road and railway standards and regulations. However, if successfully implemented, this option can save about VND4,500 billion compared to the construction of two separate bridges.

Through the review, the Ministry of Construction is more inclined to study the bridge construction plan in the 2026 - 2030 period, considering this one of the key projects of the next phase. It is expected that construction may begin in late 2026 or early 2027.

Technically, the Ministry is studying the option of building a two-storey bridge instead of arranging roads and railways on the same flat surface. Accordingly, the road bridge will be built first, the railway bridge will be built later. Calculations show that even if the railway bridge is not implemented until 2035, the two-storey option is still more effective than building two independent bridges.

Deputy Minister Pham Minh Ha said that Vietnam needs to carefully study international experience, especially from China and Japan. From survey, design to construction, everything must be concretized. The question is whether Vietnam designs or hires foreign designers, constructs or hires foreign contractors.

According to the leader of the Ministry of Construction, choosing a separate travel option will be safer and easier to implement. However, if we accept the combination plan, despite the risks and many challenges, Vietnam has the opportunity to master the technology, not only for Can Tho 2 bridge but also for high-speed railway projects in the future. To do this, the Ministry of Construction will urgently study and supplement the necessary technical standards and criteria.

Speaking at the seminar, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Hung, Principal of the University of Transport, said that the school had received the assignment from the Ministry of Construction to study the contents related to the high-speed railway project, including technical solutions for road and railway bridges to go together. The seminar also hopes to share useful information from scientists in this solution.

Discussing technical solutions, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Viet Hung, Department of City Traffic Works and Waterworks, said that currently, land funds for traffic corridors are increasingly scarce, making the need to build road and railway bridges together inevitable in many areas.

According to studies, there are currently two main trends. The first option is for roads and railways to go together on one flat surface, with railways in the middle and roads on both sides. This option has the advantage of low architectural height but the disadvantage is the large width of the bridge, increasing the cost of structure.

The second option is a two-storey bridge, often using girders, with roads on the upper floor and railways on the lower floor. This option saves width and increases the strength of the bridge, but is subject to large cross-field wind loads and higher maintenance costs.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Huu Hung and the department believe that the combination brings clear economic benefits, especially in the context of limited capital and high urbanization. Sharing foundations and pillars helps reduce initial investment costs, while saving land funds and reducing pressure on site clearance.

However, experts also pointed out many challenges, from designing structures to meet the strict load requirements of railways to complex long-term operation and maintenance. Maintaining one item can affect both roads and railways at the same time, causing major disruptions to traffic.

In fact, in Vietnam, Thang Long Bridge is a typical example of a two-storey bridge combining road and railway. International experience shows that Japan and China have built many large-scale combined bridge projects, mastering complex technology and techniques.

These experiences are being carefully studied by the Ministry of Construction and other units, as a basis for further decisions in the implementation of large bridge projects and the North-South high-speed railway.

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