Transport in Vietnam

The two major metropolises of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have operating metro networks which are currently being expanded.

[1] Due to congestion and lack of safety, the average speed on the national roads is a mere 50 kilometres per hour (31 mph).

[2] Road financing comes from a number of sources including the government, overseas donors such as the ADB, WB, JBIC and business organizations.

[7] Generally all cars, buses and trucks are permitted on the expressway but công nông (agricultural vehicles) and all types of motorcycles are not.

[12] In recent years, the government has expressed the desire to reduce the number of motorbikes in an effort to curb congestion.

Airports with civil service Heliports The Vietnamese railway network has a total length of 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi), dominated by the 1,726 kilometres (1,072 mi) single track North–South Railway running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

[22][23][24] The overall condition of railway infrastructure in Vietnam varies from poor to fair; most of the network remains in need of rehabilitation and upgrading, having received only temporary repair from damages suffered during decades of war.

According to the plan established by ASEAN, this stretch is scheduled for completion by 2020; it will form part of the Kunming–Singapore railway project, overseen by the ASEAN–Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (AMBDC).

According to plans established by ASEAN, the line may then be extended via Thakhek all the way to the Laotian capital Vientiane.

Both Laos and Thailand have expressed interest in the project as a shorter export gateway to the Pacific Ocean.

[30][31][32] Vietnamese prime minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng had originally set an ambitious target, approving a 1,630 km (1,010 mi) line to be completed by 2013, with 70 percent of funding (initially estimated at US$33 billion) coming from Japanese ODA, and the remaining 30 percent raised through loans.

[31] Later reports raised estimated costs to US$56 billion (almost 60 percent of Vietnam's GDP in 2009) for a completion date in the mid-2030s.

[35] Another high-speed rail has been proposed to connect Ho Chi Minh City to Southeast Vietnam and Cần Thơ.

In April 1995, a 125-kilometer natural gas pipeline connecting Bach Ho with a power plant near Vũng Tàu went into operation.

With the subsequent addition of compressors, the volume pumped rose to more than 1 billion cubic meters per year.

In 2005 a 399-kilometer underwater pipeline, the world's longest, began to carry natural gas onshore from the Nam Côn Sơn basin.