The Cat Linh-Ha Dong Metro Section’s 13 trains will run from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day, nine during rush hours and six during other times, Vu Hong Phuong, director of the Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Board, said.

They will ply the 13 kilometers between Yen Nghia station in the southwestern district of Ha Dong and Cat Linh in the downtown district of Dong Da at an average speed of 35 kilometers per hour.

A train with four cars and a capacity of 900 passengers will take 30 minutes to complete the trip.

A train will arrive at a station every six to seven minutes, increasing to one every two to three minutes during rush hour.

The test run will help French consultancy Apave-Certifier-Tricc evaluate the safety and precision of the system.

The contractor has begun its own eight-day test run to organize emergency drills.

When construction of the metro completed at the end of 2018, a test run had proven inconclusive and involved few personnel.

This time around 800 employees, including 200 working for the Chinese general contractor, will take part.

Vu Hong Truong, CEO of the Hanoi Metro Co. Ltd., said Vietnamese conductors are now capable of controlling the train independently without assistance from trainers.

All the Vietnamese workers have been participating in drills for more than a month now, and are ready for the test run.

Depending on the outcome, the French consultancy will issue the safety certificate for the project in the next quarter. The Ministry of Transport will then hand over the metro to Hanoi authorities to operate.