Hanoi metro Line 3 moves forward with SYSTRA

Hanoi Line 3 welcomed its first passengers on 8 August 2024. Named the “Temple of Literature Line”, this new 8.5 km link in the heart of Vietnam’s capital, built entirely on a viaduct, stretches from Nhổn to Hanoi City Centre, in Cầu Giấy. This new line will transform the mobility offer, serving almost 20% of Hanoi’s inhabitants across 6 districts.

The inauguration of Line 3 is a source of great pride for all the SYSTRA teams who have been working on this project since 2007. SYSTRA is responsible for a particularly wide range of tasks, acting as Project Implementation Consultant as well as engineering office for all the civil engineering and systems work packages, and providing operational support as Shadow operator to train the staff on this new line. SYSTRA is honoured by the trust of customer, Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Board (MRB).

Hanoi is turning a new page in its transport history with this new metro line, which will help to relieve congestion on the roads and contribute to the city’s economic development. SYSTRA is committed to the success of this new line. A great deal of SYSTRA’s expertise has been, and continues to be, mobilised for the commissioning of Line 3. We have assembled a team of engineers specialising in civil engineering and systems, inspectors, topographers, safety experts, quality and materials approval, accountants, financial and document controllers, as well as around fifteen trainers in charge of Shadow Operator activities and to assist the Operator during the 1st year. In total, up to 80 Group employees are working on the Hanoi metro every day.

Frédéric Dufour, Senior Vice President, SYSTRA Asia

A tunnel to Hanoi Central Station

On 30 July 2024, the Line 3 construction teams launched their first tunnel boring machine (TBM) to start building the tunnels to Hanoi station, the capital’s main multimodal hub. Here, Line 3 will link up with Line 1 and scheduled to begin in 2027.

The launch of this TBM, named Thần Tốc & Táo Bạo*, took place in the presence of the management of Hanoi Urban Railway. This machine will be used to dig the underground extension of Line 3, to be built in two separate tunnels due to the dense and fragile urban environment above ground.

SYSTRA  was represented at the ceremony by James Weir, contract & claims manager.  Nguyen Ba Son, Deputy Director of the MRB, praised SYSTRA’s contribution in his speech.

SYSTRA played a key role in preparing the launch of the first TBM but also in the full construction of the elevated section which has been put into operation this morning. Today, we are paving the way for greater connectivity and proximity for the people of Hanoi. As engineering consultants, we are proud to be advancing this project for the people of Hanoi every day. As Project Director, I would like to thank all the local and international SYSTRA experts for all the works performed during the past years to overcome all the difficulties which have allowed to put successfully under operation the elevated section today.

Alain Béchereau, Project Director, SYSTRA Vietnam 

*Thần Tốc & Táo Bạo: Fast and Furious, in Vietnamese