Prime Minister: Vietnam – Russia railway connection has a strategic role

At a meeting with leaders of the Russian Railways Corporation (RZD) in Moscow on March 25, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated Russia’s railway system. He said that during this visit, the two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in economics, trade, investment, energy – oil and gas and transportation, including railways.

According to the Prime Minister, railways play a strategic role in connecting the two economies, helping connect businesses and supplementing other modes of transport. He said that it is necessary to soon restore and improve the efficiency of the international rail transport route between Vietnam and Russia, on three main corridors: Vietnam – China – Kazakhstan – Russia; Vietnam – China – Mongolia – Russia; and Vietnam – China – Russia. At the same time, he proposed promoting trilateral cooperation between Vietnam – China – Russia in this field.

The Prime Minister requested the two Railway Corporations and relevant agencies to find solutions to promote cooperation in developing international intermodal transport by rail between Vietnam and Russia. Accordingly, cooperation needs to be implemented in the direction of promoting digital – green transformation, smart management, finding two-way sources of goods, increasing capacity and competitiveness.

Russia has strengths in building large-scale deep metro lines. Therefore, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh proposed that the two sides cooperate to develop urban railways and underground works in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The parties exchanged experiences on vision, thinking, planning, design, and standards to develop a modern railway industry ecosystem.

“Railway cooperation is a need of both sides, a strategic issue and of great concern to the leaders of the two countries. It is necessary to have specific products and results soon,” the Prime Minister said. He proposed that the two sides immediately establish a working group to promote rail freight transportation between the two countries, train human resources, advise and support urban projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

General Director of Russian Railways Corporation (RZD) Oleg Belozyorov agreed with the Prime Minister’s opinions. He said the Russian railway industry is ready to cooperate with Vietnam, including sharing advanced technology, training human resources… RZD will coordinate with Vietnamese partners to carry out the work.

RZD is a 100% Russian state-owned enterprise with revenue in 2025 of about 34.5 billion USD. They have the function of managing, maintaining, exploiting and trading national railway infrastructure assets invested by the State.

Russia currently has the third largest railway system in the world (after the US and China) with a total length of 86,000 km. This country has the longest railway in the world, Siberia, with a length of about 9,289 km, and the second largest passenger and cargo transport volume in the world. Russia also has the world’s largest electrified railway network, helping to optimize operating costs and reduce emissions.

At the end of 2024, Russia will start construction of a high-speed railway connecting Moscow and Saint Petersburg with a design speed of up to 400 km/h, line length of 679 km, total capital of nearly 24 billion USD, expected to be completed in 2028.

Vietnam and the Russian Federation are currently members of the Organization for Railway Cooperation (OSJD). Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR) and RZD are both members of the OSJD General Directors Conference and the Agreements on international rail freight transport, the Agreement on transit fares and a number of other agreements. VNR and RZD have a cooperation agreement to develop rail transport in international transport and attract more transport volumes on routes passing through the territories of Vietnam and Russia.

Last year, the volume of intermodal rail transport between Vietnam and Russia increased by more than 40% compared to 2024. However, the volume of transport is not commensurate with the market potential of the two sides. Currently, there are still some limitations in intermodal transport between the two countries such as differences in infrastructure and technology (road gauge), which increase costs, prolong transport time, and reduce operational efficiency.