The Ministry of Construction is currently collecting comments on the draft National Standard “Railway Applications – Urban Guided Transport Management and Command/Control Systems” prior to its appraisal and issuance.

The draft national standard, developed by the Vietnam Railway Authority, consists of three parts:

Railway Applications – Urban Guided Transport Management and Command/Control Systems – Part 1: System principles and basic concepts;

Railway Applications – Urban Guided Transport Management and Command/Control Systems – Part 2: Technical guidance on functional requirements;

Railway Applications – Urban Guided Transport Management and Command/Control Systems – Part 3: Technical guidance on system requirements.

According to the drafting agency, in recent years Vietnam has put into operation and trial use its first three urban railway lines: Line 2A Cat Linh – Ha Dong and Nhon – Hanoi Railway Station Line in Hanoi, and Metro Line 1 Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien in Ho Chi Minh City. Although these projects initially adopted modern automatic train control systems such as CBTC (Communication-Based Train Control), their core technical standards depend entirely on those of foreign contractors. Specifically, Line 2A uses Chinese standards, the Nhon – Hanoi Railway Station line applies European standards, and Metro Line 1 follows Japanese standards.

A common feature of these standards is that they are all developed based on the international standard IEC 62290 – Urban Guided Transport Management and Command/Control Systems (UGTMS). However, Vietnam still lacks a corresponding national standard system, resulting in inconsistencies among projects and difficulties in long-term operation and management.

Practical implementation has shown that the lack of technical standardization directly affects the processes of system acceptance, operation, maintenance, and personnel training. Urban railway lines using different design philosophies, system architectures, and technical interfaces make integration and interoperability between lines almost impossible, particularly for control systems, Operations Control Centers (OCC), and safety monitoring subsystems. In addition, complete dependence on contractor standards makes it difficult for Vietnam to build its own technical autonomy and to establish a roadmap for future standardization.

Photo: Passengers on Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien), Ho Chi Minh City.

Several domestic studies have begun addressing this issue. Notably, the ministerial-level research project titled “Study on the Selection of Standards and Technical Procedures for the Operation, Exploitation, and Maintenance of Urban Railways under Vietnamese Conditions” affirmed the necessity of establishing a national standards system specifically for urban railway management and control systems.

Therefore, the development of the TCVN standard set “Railway Applications – Urban Guided Transport Management and Command/Control Systems”, based on IEC 62290, is considered an urgent requirement. This standards framework will provide an important foundation to ensure interoperability, interchangeability, and system consistency among urban railway lines, while reducing dependence on external technologies and supporting the development of a safe, modern, and sustainable urban railway system in Vietnam.

VPDAĐS – TECCO1