Vietnam plans to operate freight trains to China, Russia

HANOI: Vietnam plans to operate freight trains to China and onward to Russia and other European countries later this year.

In its plans this year, Vietnam Railways Corporation sought to step up its use of international freight transport network with plans to ship fruits and aquaculture products directly from southern provinces to China using refrigerated rail containers.

It also promised to find ways to eliminate bottlenecks to increase the volume of goods transported along the busy Hanoi-Dong Dang-Pingxiang-Nanning route to other Chinese destinations, as well as to third countries with the goal of eventually exporting goods to Russia and Europe.

Online portal VnExpress reported that the plan was mooted as the company’s revenues were expected to be severely impacted by a sharp decline in passenger numbers this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and due to tracks in some places being closed to carry out infrastructure works.

The company also planned to reduce the number of trains due to decreased demand, but increase the number of halts by long-distance passenger trains.

Vietnam Railways was expected to suffer a net loss of US$60 million this year, half each from its operations and financial issues from previous years.

Assuming Vietnam declared an end to the pandemic by the end of the month, the parent company would lose US$7.34 million, and its Hanoi and Saigon subsidiaries US$26.72 million.

It said that between 2016 and last year, its business had been hit by five factors, including fierce competition with low-cost airlines and high-speed expressway buses in terms of fares, quality of service and increasing costs of materials, water and electricity.

It admitted its competitiveness was low, resulting in fewer opportunities for growth.

A lack of funding for upgrading infrastructure had also affected train services and its business performance suffered as a result.