The country’s main railway line linking Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (1,726 km) crosses the Hai Van pass by means of eight tunnels. Some of these tunnels were built before 1935 and required urgent renovation work, without interrupting rail traffic.
In the same section
With the help of French finance, studies were carried out prior to the project and proposals were put forward for civil engineering work and technology transfer to enable the Vietnamese to manage the subsequent renovation work on the other tunnels by themselves.
Work was organised in two phases and while the poor quality of the ground required additional geological investigations, work was limited to six hours a day to keep traffic disruptions to a minimum.
There were four tunnels involved :
- tunnel 13 : 322 m ;
- tunnel 9 : 170 m ;
- tunnel 10 : 124 m ; and
- tunnel 7 : 55 m.
SYSTRA worked as an independent consultant to the Vietnamese railways department in charge of managing operations. The contract was signed in 2000 and provided for assistance in preparing operational studies and feasibility studies, drawing up tender documents and analysing the bids.
SYSTRA was responsible for the supervision of work in progress.
Key Dates
- 2000/2001 : feasibility studies ;
- 2002 : start of work ;
- 2004 : start of the second phase of work ; and
- 2006 : end of work.
Key Figures
- volume of traffic on the line : 20 to 25 trains a day ;
- total length of tunnels to be upgraded : 670 m.
