Technology contenders for the Vietnam high-speed railway

A list of countries that have offered to share high-speed railway technology with Vietnam.

Author

James Clark
February 03, 2025

Vietnam is planning to build a high-speed railway between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, replacing the current metre-gauge North-South passenger railway.

The new high-speed railway will be 1,541 km in length with a top speed of 350 km/h. The government want construction to begin in 2027 and be completed by 2035.

In addition to this ambitious construction schedule, the government want the majority of the project financed domestically to avoid the strings attached with foreign loans.

The project also calls for technology transfer rather than having a country build the railway on their behalf (as was the case with the Laos-China Railway).

There have been countless articles written about the project since it was approved in 2024, but the biggest question that remains unanswered is where will the railway technology come from.

Sometime between now and 2027 an announcement will be made of who Vietnam has selected to base the technology of the high-speed railway on.

Some media outlets are painting it as a China vs Japan contest, but there are other contenders as well.

The Vietnamese government are shopping around, and they are (rightly) not giving any hints about their preference. With that in mind, I’m not going to try and guess who it will go to.

This list of countries is not in ranked order or personal preference. I will update this list with more news updates as they are known, and updates will be mentioned in the weekly newsletter.

🇯🇵 Japan

Japan was the first country to pledge support for a high-speed railway, so for that reason alone, they start this list.

Vietnam first proposed a trans-national express railway in 2005, which was planned to be ready by 2025 (that hurts to know in 2025).

In 2006 Japan pledged to continue its official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam, including the Trans-national Express Railway Line project.

In 2007, Vietnam announced its plan to build high-speed rail with aid from Japan.

In April 2010 it was reported that Vietnam’s cabinet approved the high-speed railway using Japan’s bullet train technology, but in June 2010 the National Assembly rejected the project.

From this point, it was a decade of revivals, revisions, and rejections. Through this time, Japan continued to pledge support (I keep an archive of news updates on the Vietnam High-Speed Railway page).

Further reading

Wikipedia: Shinkansen

Study: Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Vietnam Railways released a study for high-speed railway (June 2013) (PDF file).

News

“Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Ito Naoki during his recent meeting with the leadership of the Ministry of Transport (MoT) in Hanoi said Japan shows its keen interest in Vietnam’s North-South express railway project worth approximately US$70 billion.”

🇨🇳 China

China has the world’s largest high-speed railway network, with 45,000 Km of high-speed rail track in operation as of 2023. China also has experience in building high-speed railways outside China, including the first high-speed railway in Southeast Asia.

While Japan was the most prominent country in the running before the 2024 revival of the HSR project, Vietnam has been in talks with China about building the railway.

In addition to building the North-South High-Speed Railway, Vietnam is also planning to rebuild the Lao Cai – Hanoi Hai Phong line and the Hanoi – Dong Dang line. There is also a plan to build a new line from Hai Phong to Mong Cai via Ha Long. If those lines are built there would be three lines connecting Hanoi to China. The Lao Cai – Hanoi – Hai Phong line has been proposed to start construction by the end of 2025.

All of these lines to China are semi-high-speed railways (160 km/h), but some media outlets get confused and call them high-speed railways. I mention these projects because sometimes there will be an article about how China will start building a new high-speed railway in Vietnam when it is not the high-speed railway.

I also mention these northern line projects as the Vietnamese government might wait to see the outcome of each deal before committing to the high-speed railway.

Further reading

News

China construction company offers to build Vietnam high-speed railroad – [28/08/24]
“The state-owned China Communications Construction Company is interested in major infrastructure projects in Vietnam, including the north-south high-speed railroad and urban metro systems.”

Vietnam seeking to learn from China with high-speed rail plan – [31/03/24]
“China’s railway industry is the world’s most developed, and Vietnam, therefore, wants to learn from its experiences, especially in terms of technology, financial mobilisation and management expertise”.

🇰🇷 South Korea

The Republic of Korea has expressed interest in partnering with Vietnam to build a high-speed railway based on its system.

The Korea Train eXpress (KTX) between Seoul and Busan was launched in April 2004. The regular operating speed is 305 km/h, though the system is designed for 350 km/h. Like China, South Korea built their high-speed railway via technology transfer (from France).

In 2019 Hyundai expressed interest in providing comprehensive solutions, including planning, capital mobilization, construction, and operation and maintenance.

In March 2024, Korea National Railway chairman Lee Seong-hae said that South Korea could share high-speed railway technology with Vietnam.

In July 2024, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh discussed the high-speed railway project during his official visit to South Korea

While more attention has been on Japan and China, South Korea is a significant country to Vietnam. The RoK were the fourth country to be elevated to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Vietnam, and the RoK ranked as the third-largest trading partner in 2024.

Further reading

News

S Korean firms seek to join high-speed railway, LNG-fired power projects in Vietnam – [16/10/24]
“Many South Korean businesses seek to join strategic infrastructure projects in Vietnam, including high-speed railways, LNG-fired power plants, and nuclear power factories, said Yoon Suk Yeol, special advisor on foreign affairs and security to the South Korean President.”

🇫🇷 France

France has expressed interest in the high-speed railway of Vietnam, making them the first European contender for the project.

The current North–South railway was built during French colonial rule (originally known as the Transindochinois), which was fully completed on 2 September 1936. It would be a historic bookend if a French-led high-speed railway project were to replace the current railway 99 years after it was built. Perhaps even more fitting would be if the project is (only) a year late and the new high-speed railway opens on the 100th anniversary of the first North–South railway (which also happens to be National Day in Vietnam).

Further reading

News

French experts share experiences in managing, investing in high-speed rail – [15/01/25]
“French experts emphasized important issues in the implementation and investment of the high-speed rail projects at a seminar on sharing experiences in the railway sector held in Hanoi on January 14.”

France’s longstanding expertise supports Vietnam’s high-speed rail ambitions – [10/11/24]
“The Ambassador stated, “France is particularly focused on and is closely following the North-South High-Speed Rail project, which the Vietnamese National Assembly is currently considering. We are awaiting Vietnam’s decision, based on which we will explore the best ways to contribute.””

Vietnam, France bolster transport cooperation – [05/10/24]
“(Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) Phillipe Orliange) said that he is willing to promote the implementation of the MoU, affirming he stands ready to share experience and provide capital support for Vietnam in building and developing high-speed railway, the sector of France’s strength and Vietnam’s interest.”

🇪🇸 Spain

Someone who isn’t a train nerd probably wouldn’t guess that Spain has the largest high-speed railway network in Europe.

In an interview published in January 2025, the Spanish Ambassador to Vietnam (Carmen Cano de Lasala) pitched Spain’s credentials for the Vietnam HSR project:

“On infrastructure development, particularly regarding Vietnam’s recently approved North–South high-speed railway project, the ambassador highlighted Spain’s expertise in the field, and that the country ranks second globally in the expressway length and first in terms of the high-speed rail network length per capita, having developed one of the world’s most important high-speed rail networks in just three decades.

Spanish enterprises have demonstrated their capaciy in constructing quality high-speed rail systems in areas with complex terrains and climates, as evidenced by projects like the Mecca–Medina line in Saudi Arabia and the Almaty–Astana route in Kazakhstan. The companies stand ready to contribute their expertise to Vietnam’s ambitious railway project, according to the diplomat.”

Further reading

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