The Vietnam Railways Corporation would suffer from a total loss of VND1.39 trillion (USD60.86 million) this year

The loss is mostly due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the repair of Hanoi-HCM City railway route which is expected to cost up to VND7 trillion (USD304.34 million).

This year, the firm plans to invest around VND1.01 trillion (USD44.17 million) into train equipment.

The railway sector has to face rising competition from local budget airlines.

Meanwhile, investment in railway infrastructure has been modest. The railway sector has only received 40% of state capital allocated for its business and production activities.

Vietnam is now home to over 3,000 kilometres of railway tracks, none of them capable of running high-speed services.