We’ve been waiting for this news for a while – HCMC autorities are pushing hard to complete the city' first Metro line by early 2018, according to the Bernama.
Line 1, approved in 2007, will cost over $1 billion and span 19.7 kilometers from Suối Tiên Park in District 9 to the Opera House in District 1 (the station will be located under Vincom 2) with stops in districts 1, 2, 9, Binh Thanh, Thu Duc and parts of Di An district in neighboring Binh Duong province.
The line will consist of a 2.6km of underground section with 3 subterranean stations with the remaining 17.1 km and 11 stations will be built above ground.
Chairman of the municipal People's Committee, Le Hoang Quan, urged HCMC’s Urban Railway Management Board and stakeholders to meet the 2018 completion date to mark the visit of Japan International Cooperation Agency's (JICA) president Tanaka Akihiko on Tuesday.
![](http://media.urbanistnetwork.com/saigoneer/article-images/legacy/RfrliAzh.png")
Map of Metro Line 1 (Wikipedia).
The metro line will service 186,000 passengers once it opens with that figure increasing to 635,000 by 2030 and 800,000 by 2040.
The announcement comes on the heels of yesterday’s news about a $60 million ADB loan that will improve accessibility of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) 2 line in from Ben Thanh to Tham Luong stations.
This is our favorite kind of news. But damn, 2018 seems like an eternity, especially given the impending automobile invasion.
Related Articles:
- Saigon to Implement $155 Million Bus Rapid Transit System
- First Phase of Metro Line No. 5 Fully Funded
- A Complete Map of the HCMC Metro System
[Bernama // Rendering via PB World]
