Municipal authorities in HCM City will spend around JPY37 billion (USD384.5 million) on the purchase of 17 trains and equipment for metro route No. 1 or Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien.

The HCM City Urban Railway Management Board signed a contract on June 11 that stipulated the details of the contract with the Japanese company, Hitachi.

Under the contract, the city will be provided with 17 three-car trains with a capacity of 110 km per hour, able to accommodate up to 130 passengers each. The facilities would also be installed with automatic collection fee services.

The first train to arrive under the programme will be in 2016, with the deadline for the entire project set for 2018.

Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien is the first metro route in HCM City, traversing almost 20km, and linking the central city with the north-eastern limit.

Total investment in the project has reached the tune of VND47 trillion (USD2.23 billion) and is scheduled to be put into operation by 2018.