HCMC – All 17 trains of HCMC’s metro line No.1 are operating on a trial basis inside the Long Binh Depot in Thu Duc City from now until the end of this year in preparation for the test run on the entire line.
The HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways and Hitachi Co., Ltd conducted a trial run for the trains on a 120-meter section of the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien Metro Line at the Long Binh Depot in Thu Duc City on August 30.
This is the first time these 17 trains have run on a trial basis since they were sent to HCMC nearly two years ago.
These three-car trains have been tested at a speed of 20 kph, compared to the design speed of 110 kph on elevated sections and 80 kph on underground sections of the first metro line of HCMC.
The braking, traction, operating screen and power supply systems of the trains all worked well during the trial run, according to Hitachi.
After the test at the depot, the trains will test-run on an elevated section, which is around four meters above the ground, from Long Binh Depot to the Suoi Tien Station in Thu Duc City.
A deputy manager of the rolling stock department at Hitachi Company said that all the 17 trains of Metro Line No. 1 would be tested at the depot in advance, before test-running on the main route.
During the test runs, these trains will be tested at different speeds and even at the design speed.
The trains will be tested on the main line and put into operation at the end of next year.
The trains for Metro Line No.1 are all made in Japan and are painted blue. Each train has three cars and can carry 930 passengers, including 147 seated passengers and 783 standing ones.
As the first urban railway project in HCMC, the metro line costs over VND43.7 trillion and spans around 20 kilometers, starting from Ben Thanh Station in downtown HCMC to Long Binh Depot near the Suoi Tien Theme Park. It has three underground and 11 elevated stations.
The project is now 92% complete.
