Bad news for residents living near the Metro Line’s construction sites.
On Wednesday, June 8, the management board for Hanoi’s Metro Line 3 announced that it’s pushing back the finishing date for the project to early 2023, a few months later than the current deadline of 2022, reports VnExpress.
The Metro Line 3, also known as the Nhon–Hanoi Train Station Line, will connect the capital’s western side with the major train station. So far, only 43% of the track is completed, compared with 30% in July 2017, Zing reports.
According to the Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Board (MRB), investor of the project, the delay is due to the challenge underground construction poses to contractors. Most of the track’s above-ground section has been completed, but workers are not making headway underground.
The team started tackling the underground portion four months ago, but not much has been done apart from the installation of diversion barriers around the sites for the S9 and S10 stations.
Progress on the line’s elevated stations is 53% completed while that figure is 83% for elevated railway segments and 6-11% for equipment-related work.
Delays are common among Vietnam’s infrastructure projects and the Nhon-Hanoi Station is not an exception, due to difficulty in site clearance, red tape and incompetency of contractors.
The project began in 2006 with a targeted 2010 launch, but construction only actually initiated in 2010 with the launch date delayed to 2015. In 2016, the finishing date was postponed once more to 2018. At this point, it might take up to a decade until Hanoians can actually ride the Metro Line 3.
The Nhon-Hanoi Train Station Metro Line spans 12.5 kilometers with 12 stops. Its maximum capacity is 1,100 passengers, traveling at a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour.
[Photo via Wikipedia]
