Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Urban railways are a way tocut carbon emissions in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, accordingto experts from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

JICA has worked with the Climate Change Department under the VietnameseMinistry of Natural Resources and Environment to conduct data collectionsurveys to develop a measurement, report and verification system for the urbanrailway sector in Vietnam.

The survey is being conducted between February 2019 andSeptember 2020 to estimate the potential carbon emissions of three urbanrailway lines in Hanoi and HCM City which use Japan’s official development assistance(ODA).

It aims to serve as a foundation to encourage the use oftransport which has low carbon emissions, including urban railways.

JICA's survey has found urban railways are a form oftransport with lower carbon emissions than cars and motorbikes.

According to Associate Professor Dinh Van Hiep from NationalUniversity of Civil Engineering, a train releases 14 grams of carbon dioxideper passenger per km, much lower than 42g discharged by a car and 72g emittedby a motorbike.

“Urban railway is the best choice in terms of carbon dioxidereduction when compared to other means of transport,” he said.

If urban railway systems develop to meet public demand,cities like Hanoi and HCM City will contribute to the national target ofcutting greenhouse gas emissions as committed by the Government in thenationally-determined contribution programme.

JICA experts said urban railways can not only reduce carbonemission but also tackle traffic congestion and air pollution, especially inAsian cities where traffic jams affect people every day and air quality isworsening.

Ken Kumazawa, head of JICA research team, told Viet Nam Newsthat the transport sector is a big emission source, but that urban railways cancut emissions, adding that urban railways in Bangkok reduced 30 percent ofcarbon dioxide emissions, so Hanoi and HCM City could do the same.

Hanoi’s current public transport system is made up of citybuses and Bus Rapid Transit. Nine urban railway projects are in the city’spublic transport plan, some of which are under construction.

By 2020, Hanoi authorities aim for public transport to meetabout 25 percent of travel demand, with urban railways taking 2 to 3 percent.

By 2030, public transport of the capital city is hoped tomeet 40 percent of travel demand, and urban railways 17 percent.

However, the operation date for these urban railway projectsis unclear, so realisation of the target will also be delayed, AssociateProfessor Hiep said.

According to Dr Tran Minh Tu, an expert in the transportsector and a member of the JICA research team, Vietnam aims to cut greenhousegas emissions as part of commitments to the UN.

Twice a year, Vietnam has to submit a report to the UN onemission reduction, and urban railway projects are part of the transportsector’s activities to contribute to carbon dioxide emission reduction.However, there is a lack of methodology in Vietnam to measure, report andverify carbon dioxide emissions.

JICA has conducted the survey to develop a measurement,report and verification system in the urban railway sector to find a simplemethod to collect emission data so Vietnamese agencies can apply it.

To estimate emission reductions through urban railwayprojects, in the first half of this year, the JICA research team interviewedmore than 4,000 commuters living less than one km from urban railway lines No 1(Yen Vien-Ngoc Hoi) and No 2 (Nam Thang Long-Tran Hung Dao) in Hanoi and metroline No 1 (Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien) in HCM City.

“66 percent of surveyed people in line 1 and 30 percent ofline 2 in Hanoi showed readiness to use the urban railway.

“In fact, only a few of them, less than 10 percent, are usingpublic transport now, mainly buses. The reasons others do not want to changetheir means of transport are inconvenient routes and their preference forprivate vehicles,” he told Viet Nam News.

The survey results were similar to another conducted by JICAfour to five years ago on nearly 20,000 households in Hanoi. Only 4 to 6 percentof interviewees used buses, Tu said.

“These results have not satisfied the city’s expectation ofdeveloping the public transport network,” he said.

From Japan’s experience, Ken Kumazawa said urban railways hadbecome a daily part of Japanese life. In Vietnam where most people usemotorbikes, getting them to change to urban railway would be a big issue.

He said service quality would help people determine whetherto change their travel habits or not./.