On July 8, Party Central Committee member, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha chaired a meeting to listen to a report on the development of a system of standards and technical regulations for high-speed railways.
At the meeting, Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh said that there are currently 517 sets of technical standards and regulations serving the North-South high-speed railway project, including 218 Vietnamese standards and regulations and 299 foreign standards and regulations.
These standards and regulations are divided into main groups: Construction of works; railway technical technology system; station equipment and operating services; technical infrastructure and environment; safety and warning systems; along with a number of other areas.
During this time, the Ministry of Construction will coordinate with the Ministry of Science and Technology to continue reviewing, researching and developing standards and regulations compatible with practical requirements.
The Ministry of Construction has collected 299 foreign standards and regulations from countries with modern railway development experience such as Japan, Korea, China and some European countries. Some items such as reinforced concrete or information signal systems can apply domestic standards.
However, items that require specific technology such as 100m long rails, locomotives, carriages, etc. cannot be localized and need to apply foreign standards.
With the existing system of standards and regulations, the design units can completely deploy the North - South high-speed railway line synchronously and in accordance with technical requirements, without major problems in the implementation process.
Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung also said that the Ministry has issued 35 general standards for high-speed railways (regardless of manufacturer or technology provider country) and is proposing to add 42 other general standards.
The leaders of the Ministry of Science and Technology pledged to closely coordinate with the Ministry of Construction to complete the system of standards and regulations for high-speed railways after determining the technology and the country of production.
Concluding the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha emphasized that it is necessary to clearly classify between general standards (not dependent on technology suppliers) and separate standards.
The two ministries need to coordinate to unify the concept and review all existing standards and regulations, first of all, 218 existing standards and regulations of Vietnam and 35 issued common standards.
At the same time, a group of standards and regulations related to locomotives, engines, carriages... are added to operate on the high-speed railway system.
In addition, the Deputy Prime Minister noted that the use of foreign standards and regulations to harmonize and promulgate into Vietnamese standards (TCVN) must comply with regulations on technology transfer, ensuring intellectual property rights.
The Ministry of Construction closely coordinates with the Ministry of Science and Technology, together with relevant experts, to build an ecosystem of standards and regulations for high-speed railways, from survey, design, construction to operation.
In which, technical standards and regulations are key factors to determine technology and transition capability when selecting high-speed railway investors.
