GEODIS to transport metro trains for Hanoi metro

GEODIS is transporting 10 metro trains made up of 40 railcars from French rail manufacturer Alstom for the Hanoi metro.

The latest train – part of a total of 10 shipments of four cars – will leave the port of Dunkirk (France) this weekend, aboard the containership Champs Elysées.

Manufactured at the Alstom factory in Petite-Forêt (Valenciennes), the new metro cars, that will leave France for Hanoi arrived at Dunkirk by road, with transport arranged, two by two by the GEODIS team, at the end of last week. They will be delivered in Hanoi in less than two months’ time.

The whole complex move will be spread over a nine-month period and is due to be completed by mid-2021.

GEODIS Industrial Project teams are managing the end-to-end transport process from France to Vietnam through Malaysia including the loading at Alstom Valenciennes premises, oversized pre-carriage to Dunkirk, port handling, delivery to the destination site and transport engineering.

The entire shipment will amount to nearly 10,000 freight tonnes of passenger railcars and will comprise ten full metro trains.

Johann Taccoen, GEODIS’ Deputy Regional Director, Industrial Projects in France, said: “This is a meticulous operation that we have been preparing for in close partnership with our customer, the manufacturer Alstom, over several months.

“Our aim is to ensure that the goods reach their destination safely and securely, all within a very tight timeframe. In particular, our people’s skills in achieving reliable transit times, controlling costs and maintaining safety standards are pivotal.”

The container line CMA CGM that provides the ocean transport, on behalf of GEODIS, needs to trans-ship the cargo in Port Kelang, Malaysia before continuing the journey to Haiphong, the Vietnamese port situated some 190 kilometers from Hanoi.

Both the pervading Covid-19 restrictions and the need for specially designed lifting equipment at all three ports constitute further challenges for the operations teams.

In Vietnam, Vu Huynh, Industrial Project Manager of GEODIS, leads the delivery operation.

“The on-carriage of each railcar requires a road convoy of more than 30 meters in length,” he said.

“As a consequence, the delivery of each metro train set involves two overnight journeys with planning for secure stopping areas and ensuring all safety and traffic impact requirements are fulfilled. Moreover, given space constraints at the Hanoi Metro Depot off-loading site, careful coordination is needed to guarantee a safe, damage-free operation.”