Japan will cooperate with Vietnam to promote use of its high-speed train technology if the Government revives its high-speed railroad network plan, said Japan’s Transport Minister Seiji Maehara.

Japan will cooperate with Vietnam to promote use of its high-speed train technology if the Government revives its high-speed railroad network plan, according to DPA and Bloomberg newswire quotations from Japan’s Transport Minister Seiji Maehara at a press conference in Tokyo on June 22.

Controversies over North-South express railway project

“We’ll continue to work with the Vietnamese government to use Japan’s high-speed train technology,” stated Maehara at the press conference. He added that Japan will continue to explore ways to fund the project.

The National Assembly in Vietnam on June 19 rejected the proposed $56 billion high-speed railway because of concerns about the cost, some 60 percent of Vietnam’s economic output.

“The Government and the Ministry of Transport will study a comprehensive master plan for the country’s transport system,” revealed Dang Vu Minh, Chair of the National Assembly’s Committee for Science, Technology and Environment.

Nguyen Huu Bang, General Director of Vietnam Railways Corporation, explained in February 2010 that the corporation planned to use Japanese technology to build the North-South express railway. Maehara added in April that Japan was exploring ways to help fund the project.

Sumitomo Corp. had teamed with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to bid on the project. Itochu Corp. was heading a competing group with Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd.

To assist with economic recovery, Japan is promoting its advanced technologies (nuclear power and bullet trains) abroad. Apart from the project in Vietnam, Japan is also participating in a high-speed railway project in the US.

Source: Bloomberg/VNE