A new set of renderings conjures up a future in which Ben Thanh Station is a both a transportation and commercial hub for city dwellers.
Not long ago, the Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) released new concept images showing the scale and details of the Ben Thanh Metro Interchange in downtown Saigon when it’s finished.
Zing reports that construction on Saigon’s Metro Line 1 is 73% completed and MAUR aims to get the progress bar up to 85% at the end of this year for a launch date in 2021. When done, Line 1 will ferry passengers between stations in Saigon's District 1, 2, 9, Binh Thanh, Thu Duc and Binh Duong Province’s Di An City.
According to the metro network master plan, Ben Thanh Station will become a major interchange linking Line 1 (Ben Thanh–Tham Luong), Line 3A (Ben Thanh–Tan Kien), and Line 4 (Thanh Xuan–Hiep Phuoc). The former two will form a corridor connecting the eastern and western sides of the city, while the latter runs north–south.
Ben Thanh Station will have four floors below ground. The first floor features ticket machines, an information center and a shopping area stretching from Ben Thanh to the Le Loi-Nguyen Hue intersection. The second and fourth floors will each house a train platform.
There will be six entrances for Ben Thanh Station: two from September 23rd Park, one on Phan Chu Trinh Street next to Ben Thanh Market, two connecting from the basement of the Ben Thanh Square project, and one at the Ham Nghi-Huynh Thuc Khang-Le Loi intersection.
As of February this year, Saigon still hadn't been able to find an investor for the underground shopping area, VnExpress reports. This means that work on the commercial area won’t take place concurrently with the metro and might result in train disruptions and digging in the future.
Meanwhile, workers are in the process of completing other stations of Metro Line 1 as well. Ba Son, one of the line’s three underground stations, is expected to be finished at the end of the year, with two basements and five entrances. Work on the first basement of Opera House Station was also completed recently.
On the other side of the line, three elevated stations are having their roofs installed. Tan Cang, An Phu and Van Thanh are the last stations of the line’s 14 to finish with roofing.
The Ben Thanh–Suoi Tien Metro Line will be Saigon’s first operational urban railway, spanning 19.7 kilometers and 14 stations, three of which are underground (Ben Thanh, Opera House and Ba Son), while the rest are above-ground.
[Renderings via MAUR]
