The national railway system will be developed to handle 11.8 million tonnes of cargo and 21.5 million passengers by 2030. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi - Consulting agencies have proposed orientations for promoting the capacity of 16 important railway stations nationwide to meet freight transportation demand.

The Consulting Centre for Transport Development Investment (CCTDI) and the Transport Investment and Construction Consiltatnt JSC (TRICC) have completed a baseline report suggesting orientations for developing some important railway stations.

They said the national railway network master plan for 2021 - 2030 with a vision to 2050 targets that the national railway system will be capable of handling 11.8 million tonnes of cargo and 21.5 million passengers, respectively rising 2.3- and 2.7-fold from the figures in 2019.

To that end, aside from renovating and upgrading existing stations and building new facilities, it is necessary to enhance the capacity of the national-level stations, especially those in cities, central stations, and the ones linking with other countries.

Among those stations, freight ones must be connected with roads able to serve heavy-duty trucks and have space reserved for long-term development.

Passenger stations must be well-connected with urban public transport and personal vehicle use, and have sufficient land reserved for services and conveniences to attract and serve passengers. The transit-oriented development (TOD) model could be applied to those stations, the consulting units suggested.

The 16 stations they proposed development orientations for are located along four busy railway routes, namely the Hanoi - Dong Dang (Lang Son province) and Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City routes along the North - South corridor, and the Hanoi - Hai Phong and Hanoi - Lao Cai routes along the East - West corridor.

They comprise three stations along Hanoi - Dong Dang, four along Hanoi - Lao Cai, eight along Hanoi - HCM City, and one along Hanoi - Hai Phong.