Minister of Construction inspects underground station of Nhon - Hanoi metro line, requests to speed up progress

(Chinhphu.vn) - "If construction is only 1 month, 1 week or 1 day faster, people will soon benefit from modern and convenient public transport services. Therefore, the progress of the urban railway project from Nhon to Hanoi Railway Station cannot be delayed, and construction work needs special attention," said Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh.

Minister Tran Hong Minh inspects construction work at underground station S11 - Temple of Literature - Photo: Construction Newspaper

Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh recently inspected the construction site of the underground station of urban railway line No. 3, Nhon - Hanoi station section.

Nhon - Hanoi station underground metro section reaches more than 51% progress

Reporting to the Minister, Mr. Nguyen Cao Minh, Head of the Hanoi Urban Railway Management Board, said: The elevated section including the Depot and the Nhon - Cau Giay route has been completed and put into commercial operation since August 2024. After more than 1 year of operation, the system serves people safely and with quality.

However, the underground section is still under construction due to site clearance issues. Up to now, the overall progress of the underground section has reached 51.01%. Of which, package CP03 (tunnel and underground station construction) has reached 64.38%; equipment packages CP06, CP07, CP08, CP09 are currently under design, awaiting site handover from CP03.

CP03 package is 4km long with 4 underground stations. At present, all 4 stations have been constructed to the bottom slab using Top-Down technology. The tunnel sections connecting the stations are excavated by 2 TBM (tunnel boring machine) using earth pressure balance technology.

TBM No. 1 started on July 31, 2024, has excavated 2,040/2,572 m, is constructing the section from station S11 - Quoc Tu Giam, expected to complete at station S12 by the end of October 2025. TBM No. 2 started on February 3, 2025, has excavated 1,158/2,580 m, expected to complete at station S12 by February 2026.

After completing the tunnel drilling and dismantling of the TBM, the contractor will hand over the site for installation and testing of the equipment. Although Hanoi's geology is complex and the machine has to be stopped many times for technical handling, the construction still ensures quality, safety and strict compliance with project standards.

The project's two TBMs were specially designed by Herrenknecht (Germany), more than 100 m long, weighing about 850 tons, operated by more than 150 engineers and workers. The excavator operates in a closed cycle, with a maximum speed of 60mm/minute. During the excavation process, the machine sprays FOAM in front of the cutting head to soften the soil, prevent binding and maintain stable pressure. At the tail of the machine, a grease spray system protects the brush, prevents water from seeping back, and at the same time pumps mortar to fill the gap between the tunnel lining and the soil, limiting subsidence. Immediately after digging, the robot installs the tunnel lining behind, each segment consists of 6 pieces, completed in 30 - 35 minutes. The excavation and installation cycle of the tunnel lining takes place continuously.

More than 3,000 m of tunnel has been completed by two TBMs.

Speed ​​up progress, do not prolong project construction

After taking the official train through the tunnels, stopping at each station to inspect the construction and applied technology, Minister Tran Hong Minh discussed with the Project Management Board, contractors, foreign experts, engineers and workers about solutions to speed up progress.

The Minister emphasized that the project has been delayed, and if it continues to be delayed, it will increase capital and reduce investment efficiency. "If construction is only 1 month, 1 week or 1 day faster, people will soon benefit from modern and convenient public transport services. Therefore, the progress cannot be delayed, and construction work needs special attention," said the Minister.

The head of the Ministry of Construction also noted that investors and contractors need to thoroughly fix the mudflow incident that occurred recently, limiting the impact on people's homes. With the complex geological characteristics of Hanoi and narrow land, the Minister requested that construction units must calculate scientifically , ensuring safety and environmental sanitation.

"Vietnam does not have much experience in metro implementation, so it has to hire international consultants and contractors. Therefore, technology transfer and training are needed to improve the quality of domestic human resources. Consulting, design and construction parties must strengthen coordination, make greater efforts and determination, and mobilize maximum human resources and machinery to work with the spirit of "overcoming the sun and rain," "3 shifts, 4 crews" to speed up progress. In addition, the Ministry of Construction, relevant agencies and Hanoi city will continue to accompany and remove difficulties to promote the project," the Minister emphasized.

The Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station urban railway line has a total main line length of 12.5km, of which 8.5km is elevated and 4.0km is underground.

The route from the starting point Nhon follows Highway 32 - Cau Dien - Mai Dich - Ring Road 3 intersection - Cau Giay (ring road 2 intersection) - Kim Ma - Cat Linh - Quoc Tu Giam and ends at Hanoi station (Tran Hung Dao street, in front of Hanoi station).

The line is built with a double-gauge railway of 1,435mm, European standard rails/switches UIC 60. The station system includes 8 elevated stations (S1 - S8) and 4 underground stations (S9 - S12). Type B trains (European standards), average size, 2.7m wide, 78.3m long (4 cars). The 15.05ha depot is located in Tay Tuu ward.

The total investment of the project is 34,826.05 billion VND. Of which, the city budget: 10,004.01 billion VND. ODA loan: 24,782.04 billion VND from the French Government (RPE), the French Development Agency (AFD), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Implementation period: 2009-2027. Of which: The elevated section will be put into operation from August 8, 2024; The entire route is expected to be put into operation at the end of 2027.

The project is divided into 10 main packages: 1 General Consulting package for the project implementation by Systra SA Company (France); 5 construction packages (package 1 for the elevated line; package 2 for the elevated stations; package 3 for the tunnel and underground stations; package 4 for the Depot's technical infrastructure; package 5 for the Depot's architectural works); 4 equipment packages (package 6: Purchase of locomotives and rolling stock and electromechanical systems; package 7 - Environmental control system, elevators and escalators, fire protection and drainage; package 8 - rail system and package 9 - ticket system).

Phan Trang

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/bo-truong-xay-dung-kiem-tra-ga-ngam-tuyen-metro-nhon-ga-ha-noi-yeu-cau-day-nhanh-tien-do-102250904161351241.htm