Railway sector eyes brighter future

With its positive achievements in 2023, the railway sector is working to enhance service quality, improve passenger support policies, and adjust business strategies for better performance in 2024 and following years.

Due to high air fares lingering from 2023 to the first months in 2024, many travelers have switched their choice to trains, resulting in a high rise in railway passengers and strong increase in revenue of the railway sector.

According to the Vietnam Railway (VNR), last year, it earned 8.5 trillion VND (344 million USD), reaching 101.7% of its yearly plan, with 6.1 million tickets sold. The firm’s direct revenue from transportation reached nearly 4 trillion VND.

Notably, VNR’s after-tax profit hit 94.8 billion VND in 2023 compared to a loss of 11.9 billion in 2022. During the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival 2024, the sector sold 720,000 tickets for 436 billion VND.

For the low season from March to May, the sector has rolled out various measures to attract passengers.

Since March 16, the Saigon Railways has sold tickets on daily trains operating during the National Reunification Day (April 30) and May Day (May 1) through May 15.

Meanwhile, discounts from 5%-90% have been applied to various groups of passengers, including policy beneficiaries, the elderly, children, students, persons with disabilities, trade union members, and group passengers.

The sector has also partnered with the tourism one to provide special offers to passengers, and cooperated with the central province of Thua Thien – Hue and Da Nang city to organise a transport-tourism services from March 19.

Accordingly, Hue-Da Nang trains will stop in Lang Co, one of the best bays in the world, enabling passengers to enjoy the beauty of the bay. Meanwhile, local cultural programmes and dishes will be provided in the trains.

VNR Chairman Dang Sy Manh said that in the time to come, the sector will develop a train schedule suitable to infrastructure and vehicle capacity, while completing service price plans and exploiting and trading infrastructure and support services.

Meanwhile, it will enhance the service quality and offer more promotions to compete with other forms of transportation, and coordinate with the tourism sector to develop more services, he said.

Manh added that the sector will engage more deeply into the logistics chain and increase the transport of containers.