North–South Express Railway

The North–South Express Railway would stretch 1,541 km (958 mi) from Ngoc Hoi in Hanoi to Thu Thiem in Ho Chi Minh City. The National Assembly's Resolution 172/2024/QH15 describes a new double-track, standard-gauge, electrified line designed for 350 km/h (217 mph), with 23 passenger stations and five freight stations. On 30 November 2024 deputies approved the investment policy with 443 of 454 voting in favour, at a preliminary cost of VND1,713,548 billion (about US$67 billion).

The case for the line rests on what exists today. Vietnam's conventional North–South railway is a largely single-track, metre-gauge line dating from the French colonial period, and a trip between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City takes more than 30 hours. The government says the new line would take about 5.5 hours.

The geography is demanding. Vietnam is long and narrow, only about 50 km wide at its narrowest, and the line must pass the mountain spurs that reach the sea on the central coast. No official alignment has been published: the interim feasibility report is meant to fix the route and key points such as stations, bridges and tunnels, so the map on this page shows an estimated corridor only.

As of November 2026 the project is approved but not under construction. In October 2026 the Ministry of Construction said it aims to start works in December 2027, later than the late-2026 target it set a year earlier. It plans to select the feasibility-study consultant in the fourth quarter of 2026, with the study, its appraisal and its approval running to the fourth quarter of 2028. The National Assembly's goal remains substantial completion by 2035.

Vietnam's existing North–South railway is a bottleneck. The metre-gauge, mostly single-track line dates from the French colonial period and is worked by diesel locomotives, and a through trip between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City takes more than 30 hours. Most long-distance travel has shifted to road and air.

Government planners frame the high-speed line as the missing backbone of the transport system: a way to relieve congestion, cut logistics costs and connect provinces to the two economic poles of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Under the resolution the line is primarily for passengers, and it can also serve national defence and security needs.

Resolution 172/2024/QH15 specifies a new double-track, standard-gauge (1,435 mm) electrified railway with a design speed of 350 km/h (217 mph) and an axle load of 22.5 tonnes. It would be entirely separate from the existing metre-gauge, diesel-worked North–South railway. The line is primarily for passengers and can also serve defence and security needs.

The resolution plans 23 passenger stations and five freight stations. The Ngoc Hoi terminus in Hanoi and the Thu Thiem terminus in Ho Chi Minh City are the two named priorities for an early start. Tunnel and bridge counts have not been published, because the route and key structures are still to be fixed by the feasibility study.

No core technology partner has been announced. The resolution allows other enterprises to invest in rolling stock. Thaco signed a rolling-stock localisation agreement with South Korea's Hyundai Rotem on 4 December 2025. VinSpeed's agreement with Germany's Siemens Mobility, signed on 17 December 2025, covers VinSpeed's own Hanoi–Quang Ninh and Ben Thanh–Can Gio lines, not this project.

The price tag is the starting point: a preliminary VND1,713,548 billion, or about US$67 billion. Domestic industry is already positioning itself around it. Steelmaker Hoa Phat broke ground in December 2025 on a plant in Quang Ngai, worth more than VND10 trillion (about US$410 million), to produce rail for high-speed lines.

The government expects the line to reduce logistics costs and bring provinces closer to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, on a trip of about 5.5 hours compared with more than 30 today.

Demand against low-cost flights is the counterweight. In November 2024 the government proposed fares at about 75% of the average low-cost airfare. That was a proposal, not a set fare. Whether ticket revenue could cover costs remains an open question while the financing model and feasibility study are unfinished.

An electrified line would offer an alternative to road and air on the country's main corridor. The size of that benefit has not been measured in the sources reviewed for this page, as the feasibility study has yet to be carried out.

The footprint is better documented. The resolution's preliminary estimate is about 10,827 hectares of land: about 3,655 hectares of rice land, 2,567 hectares of forest land and 4,605 hectares of other land. It also estimates about 120,836 people to resettle. The Ministry of Construction aims to complete land clearance by the fourth quarter of 2028.

Cost is at the heart of the debate. In June 2010 the National Assembly rejected an earlier US$56 billion version of the project and asked for further study. The version approved in 2024 is budgeted at about US$67 billion.

Financing has become the most contentious issue. The 2024 resolution frames the project as public investment, funded from the state budget, with government bonds, official development assistance and concessional foreign loans available if needed. In 2025 private groups nonetheless came forward. In May, Vingroup's VinSpeed unit proposed to fund 20% of the capital and borrow the rest from the state at zero interest over 35 years. Thaco (Truong Hai) also expressed interest. On 25 December 2025 Vingroup withdrew, saying it would focus on projects already entrusted to it, and its listed shares fell to their daily limit. Sources from May and October 2026 do not say that any private investor has been chosen.

Land is the other sensitive question. The resolution's preliminary estimate is about 10,827 hectares of land and about 120,836 people to resettle.