Mapped: Vietnam Breaks Ground on $5.6 Billion Hanoi–Quảng Ninh High-Speed Railway

Vietnam just took its biggest step yet toward high-speed rail. On April 12, 2026, newly-elected Prime Minister Lê Minh Hưng joined senior party and state leaders in Quảng Ninh Province for the groundbreaking of a 120-kilometer railway that will link Hanoi to the coast of Hạ Long Bay at speeds of up to 350 km/h.

The project, developed by VinSpeed — the rail division of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup — carries a price tag of VND 147 trillion (over $5.6 billion), excluding land clearance costs. It’s the country’s first privately financed high-speed railway and one of the largest single infrastructure investments in Southeast Asian history.

The Route: Hanoi to Hạ Long in 23 Minutes

The double-track, fully electrified, standard-gauge (1,435 mm) line will run through four provinces in northern Vietnam: Hanoi, Bắc Ninh, Hải Phòng, and Quảng Ninh. Five stations are planned along the route:

The section passing through Hanoi will operate at a reduced maximum speed of 120 km/h, but once on the main line, trains will hit their top operating speed of 350 km/h. The result: a journey that currently takes over two hours by road will shrink to approximately 23 minutes by rail — a five- to seven-fold reduction in travel time.

Interactive Route Map

The interactive map below shows the planned railway alignment and all five stations. Click any station marker for details.

Static Route Overview

The numbered map below shows the five station locations along the 120-kilometer corridor, stretching from the outskirts of Hanoi to the shores of Hạ Long Bay.

German Technology, Vietnamese Ambition

The railway will deploy the latest generation of high-speed trains from Siemens Mobility, alongside world-class signaling, communications, and equipment systems. Michael Peter, Siemens Mobility’s global CEO, attended the groundbreaking ceremony personally — a signal of the project’s strategic importance for the German manufacturer.

Critically, Siemens has committed to a phased technology transfer to VinSpeed. This roadmap includes collaboration on train assembly and maintenance, with the goal of building domestic high-speed rail expertise in Vietnam over the operational lifespan of the project. It’s a model similar to arrangements Siemens has made in other emerging markets — the technology arrives imported, but the knowledge stays local.

Why This Matters

Vietnam’s ambitions for high-speed rail extend well beyond this 120-kilometer line. The country has long planned a North-South express railway connecting Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City — a 1,500+ km corridor that would be one of the most transformative infrastructure projects in Asia. Contractor selection for that megaproject is targeted for Q2 2026.

The Hanoi–Quảng Ninh line, while smaller in scale, serves as a proof of concept: a privately financed, foreign-technology high-speed line built on a compressed timeline. If VinSpeed delivers by 2028, it will demonstrate that Vietnam can build and operate 350 km/h rail — strengthening the case for the far larger north-south corridor.

The route also has immediate economic logic. It connects Hanoi — Vietnam’s political capital and second-largest city — to Hạ Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Southeast Asia’s most visited natural landmarks. The provinces along the route (Bắc Ninh, Hải Phòng, Quảng Ninh) form the backbone of northern Vietnam’s industrial and export economy.

Key Specifications

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