On the morning of March 3, in Hanoi, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh - Head of the Steering Committee for key projects and important national projects in the field of railways - chaired the 7th meeting of the Steering Committee, according to VNA.
The meeting was held directly at the Government Headquarters; online with provinces and cities with railway projects passing through. Attending the meeting were Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc; Ministers, leaders of ministries, branches, members of the Steering Committee; Chairmen of People's Committees of provinces and cities with railway projects passing through.
Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that 2026 marks the 145th anniversary of the formation of Vietnam Railways, while Vietnam has almost not built more new lines, even some lines have been lost; has been and is deploying a number of urban railway lines in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
The Prime Minister said that Vietnam does not have a railway industry, so it cannot be self-reliant; it is necessary to innovate thinking to rise to self-reliance; it is necessary to ensure system unity.
Therefore, the Prime Minister requested the Steering Committee to continue to promote the spirit of responsibility, dare to think, dare to do to develop the railway transport system to develop railway lines with unified standards, regulations, and common use.
The Head of Government emphasized that the implementation of railway projects will achieve 5 goals: creating an important foundation, promoting GDP growth in 2026 and the following years to reach 10% or more; helping to reduce logistics costs, increase the competitiveness of Vietnam's goods; reducing traffic congestion in urban areas; continuing to open up new space for urban, industrial park, and economic zone development; promoting the development of the ecosystem of supporting industries and railway industry.
Therefore, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested that the implementation of railway projects must follow the "5 digitization" direction including: "digitalization, greening, efficiency optimization, smart management, harmonizing the interests of the State, people, and businesses"; and "4 no's": "not wasting a day, not delaying a week, not missing opportunities in a month, not being passive in a year".
At the meeting, the Prime Minister directed to end the mentality of "January is a month for fun", requesting delegates to review the implementation of assigned tasks at the 6th meeting of the Steering Committee, especially regarding the progress and work set out, especially difficulties, obstacles, bottlenecks that need to be removed; lessons learned and tasks, solutions in the coming time that need to be implemented to promote the implementation of projects including:
Component project 1 and component project 2 of the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway project; the connection of rails and railway connections across the border between Vietnam and China; the progress of surveying and preparing feasibility study reports for the North-South high-speed railway project; the deployment situation of urban railway lines in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City; the deployment of Gia Binh - Ha Long, Lang Son - Hanoi railway lines; the construction of the railway industrial complex.
