Vietnam’s legislative body rejected a proposed US$56 billion Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City bullet train project on Saturday, the last day of a month-long National Assembly sitting.

Deputies voting on the project

The National Assembly did not approve a resolution on this project. NA deputies said they had asked for further study of the project.

Neither of the resolution’s two plans got an over-half support percentage in a vote.

Addressing the closing ceremony of the 25-day sitting, NA Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong stressed the significance and large scale of the railway express project that would exert diverse socio-economic impacts and catches great attention of the public.

He said the NA had therefore thoroughly and seriously considered the project and assigned the government to finalize a master plan of transport development for the whole nation as well as for every region in the country and the North-South transport system.

Earlier, the government had worked out a proposal that the express train would link Hanoi Capital in the north with the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City 1,570 kilometers away, at speeds of about 300 kilometers an hour.

Reportedly, the government had agreed to adopt Japan’s Shinkansen technology for the railway, if the project were approved.