On August 7, the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Board (MAUR) said that in 11 stations of Metro Line 2 project (Ben Thanh - Tham Luong), Pham Van Bach station (ST10) and Le Thi Rieng station (ST5) are being focused by contractors to deploy steel cage lowering and fence construction.
At Pham Van Bach station, steel cages are lowered to a depth of about 41m. The surrounding wall system of the station has a total length of about 534m and a thickness of 1.2m.
Meanwhile, at Le Thi Rieng station, the steel cage is lowered to a depth of about 47m. The surrounding wall system here is about 486m long, also 1.2m thick.
MAUR said that the construction progress at the two stations is basically meeting the set plan.
The completion of the main items at Pham Van Bach and Le Thi Rieng stations will create conditions to bring 2 TBM tunnel excavators underground, starting the construction of two tunnels of Metro Line 2.
This is a technology using giant cylindrical robots to dig through the ground, applied in many urban railway projects around the world.
According to the initial plan, tunnel drilling work is expected to begin in October 2027. However, the Urban Railway Management Board and contractors are optimizing the construction organization plan, striving to shorten it by about 2 months and put TBM machines into construction in August 2027.
The underground section of Metro Line 2 includes two single circular tunnels, more than 9 km long, extending from Ben Thanh station to the Truong Chinh - Pham Van Bach intersection area.
Each tunnel has an outer diameter of 6.8 m, an inner diameter of 6.2 m. The maximum depth from the bottom of the tunnel to the natural ground is about 30 m.
Metro No. 2 will be started in January 2026, expected to be completed and put into operation in 2030. However, Ho Chi Minh City is aiming to complete it sooner.
At a recent project inspection, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Hoang Nguyen Dinh requested units to focus resources, accelerate progress, and strive to complete Metro Line 2 in 2029, 1 year earlier than the initial plan.
To serve the construction of Metro Line 2, from August 13, 2026, all types of cars will be banned from circulating on Cach Mang Thang Tam street in the direction from Ly Thuong Kiet street to 3 Thang 2 street. Buses are still allowed to circulate in both directions.
Metro No. 2 (Ben Thanh - Tham Luong) has a total investment of more than 55,000 billion VND from the Ho Chi Minh City budget.
The route is nearly 11.27km long, of which about 9.3km is underground and about 2km is elevated. The entire route has 10 underground stations, 1 elevated station and a depot in Tham Luong.
The route starts from Ben Thanh station, ends at Tham Luong depot, passing through 14 wards including: Ben Thanh, Ban Co, Xuan Hoa, Hoa Hung, Vuon Lai, Nhieu Loc, Tan Hoa, Tan Son Nhat, Bay Hien, Tan Binh, Tan Son, Tay Thanh, Tan Son Nhi and Dong Hung Thuan.
In the initial phase of operation, Metro Line 2 is expected to use a 3-carriage train, with a maximum speed of about 80 - 110km/h, and a transport capacity of about 14,400 passengers/hour/direction.
When put into operation, Ben Thanh - Tham Luong Metro is expected to form a large-volume public transport axis, connecting the central area with the Northwest gateway of Ho Chi Minh City.
