Vietnam is advancing an ambitious new chapter in rail infrastructure with a transformative high-speed, electrified network proposed to connect Ho Chi Minh City with Can Tho and Ca Mau.

Anchored in recent government planning decisions and a flagship private proposal, the Mekong Delta rail vision promises to dramatically shorten travel times, relieve overloaded highways, and open up new tourism and logistics corridors across the country’s most important agricultural heartland.

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A New High-Speed Spine for the Mekong Delta

The centerpiece of the new plan is a high-speed, fully electrified standard-gauge railway stretching from Ho Chi Minh City through Can Tho to Ca Mau. The line, proposed by Vietnamese conglomerate CT Group, would cover roughly 280 kilometers in two stages, initially reaching Can Tho before pushing on toward Vietnam’s southernmost point at Dat Mui in Ca Mau Province.

Under the proposal, the line would be built as a double-track railway with a 1,435 millimeter gauge, designed to carry both passengers and freight at speeds of 200 to 250 kilometers per hour, with the potential to increase top speeds to 300 to 350 kilometers per hour after further study. This would place the new corridor firmly in the category of high-speed rail by international standards, marking a step-change in travel dynamics across the Mekong Delta.

The project would begin at Thu Thiem Station in Ho Chi Minh City, a strategic location already planned as a key hub for the future North–South high-speed railway and a major connector to Long Thanh International Airport. From there, the route would swing southwest through the vast lowlands of the Mekong Delta, linking up major regional centers before terminating in Ca Mau.

CT Group has submitted its proposal to the central government and is seeking approval to prepare a full pre-feasibility study. While still at a conceptual stage, the project has been framed as a flagship public private partnership with a total value of around 12 billion dollars, positioning it as one of Vietnam’s most ambitious transport schemes to date.

Electrified Tracks, Faster Trains and Shorter Journey Times

Central to the transformative promise of the new railway vision is its electrified design, which sharply contrasts with Vietnam’s existing diesel-powered lines. An electrified, high-speed corridor between Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho and Ca Mau would cut journey times that today can stretch to many hours on congested highways.

Current road travel from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho typically takes around three and a half to four hours, depending on traffic and weather. The first-generation high-speed rail studies for the Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho section, prepared by state-backed consultants in recent years, have contemplated passenger train speeds ranging from 160 to nearly 190 kilometers per hour. At those speeds, the city-to-city trip could drop to under two hours, even with intermediate stops.

The latest private-sector proposal goes further, targeting operating speeds of 200 to 250 kilometers per hour, with the line purpose-built as a high-speed standard-gauge route instead of being constrained by legacy narrow-gauge infrastructure. If realized, this could bring travel times closer to those seen on modern regional high-speed networks elsewhere in Asia, transforming the daily reality for commuters, business travelers and tourists alike.

For Ca Mau, which currently lies at the far end of long road journeys from Ho Chi Minh City, the impact would be even more dramatic. A continuous high-speed, electrified spine could compress travel times from an all-day overland trip into a matter of a few hours, reshaping how visitors access the country’s southernmost mangrove forests, coastal wetlands and emerging eco-tourism hubs.

From Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho: Public Investment Lays the Groundwork

Running parallel to the CT Group high-speed proposal, Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport has already advanced a state-led project for a new standard-gauge electrified line between Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho. This route, as detailed in pre-feasibility studies completed over the past two years, would run roughly 174 to 175 kilometers from An Binh Station in Binh Duong Province, just northeast of Ho Chi Minh City, down to Can Tho City.

Under the ministry’s current planning, the line would be built in two major phases. The first phase envisions a single electrified track for mixed passenger and freight use, designed for speeds of up to about 160 kilometers per hour for passenger trains and around 120 kilometers per hour for freight. The second phase would later upgrade the corridor to a full double-track system, boosting capacity and reliability as demand grows.

The public project is projected to cost close to 10 billion dollars over both phases, with about 7.2 billion dollars allocated for the initial single-track development and roughly 2.7 billion dollars for later duplication. A substantial portion of the budget is earmarked for land acquisition, compensation and resettlement, reflecting the complexity of building a railway across densely populated and intensively farmed terrain in the Mekong Delta.

The ministry has signaled that it aims to secure investment approval in the middle of this decade, with groundbreaking before 2030 and operations targeted around 2035 for the first phase. Though the state-led line is more conservative in speed terms than the CT Group proposal, both share key design principles: standard-gauge, full electrification and a long-term orientation toward double-track capacity.

Extending the Line to Ca Mau: Private Capital and Regional Ambition

The leap from Can Tho to Ca Mau is where the CT Group proposal adds a new layer of ambition. While the existing government-approved national railway network plan has so far prioritized the Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho section as a near- to medium-term target, CT Group’s vision extends that southward to Dat Mui, effectively bringing high-speed tracks to the tip of Vietnam.

According to information released by Vietnamese planning bodies, the proposed HCMC–Can Tho–Ca Mau high-speed line would traverse six key localities: Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, Can Tho, An Giang and Ca Mau. This alignment is intended not only to serve major population centers but also to unlock the development potential of strategic subregions such as the Dong Thap Muoi wetland area and the Long Xuyen Quadrilateral, both central to rice cultivation and aquaculture.

CT Group has floated a financing structure in which the project would be developed as a public private partnership, with the state covering roughly 80 percent of investment costs through public funds and the remaining 20 percent contributed by the private partner. The company has signaled an intention to leverage land development opportunities around station areas, with hundreds of hectares earmarked for transit-oriented development in Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho and Ca Mau to help finance its share.

The developer is also working with foreign engineering partners, including major Chinese infrastructure design and construction firms, to shape feasibility studies and examine options under engineering, procurement and construction models. Construction timelines floated by the company, contingent on government approval, point to feasibility and environmental studies through 2026 and 2027, followed by main works beginning as early as 2027 and commercial operations targeted around 2031 or 2032.

Bridges, Expressways and Integrated Transport for the Delta

The new high-speed rail vision is emerging alongside a wave of major road and bridge investments across the Mekong Delta, creating the framework for a highly integrated, multimodal transport network. Notably, a planned road and rail bridge known as Can Tho 2 is being prepared as both a key link in the North–South expressway system and a future connector for the Ho Chi Minh City–Can Tho railway.

The Can Tho 2 bridge project, with an estimated investment of more than one billion dollars, is designed as a combined road and rail crossing over the Hau River. Project documents describe a 17.5 kilometer corridor linking Vinh Long Province and Can Tho, with a cable-stayed main span and six highway lanes designed for speeds of around 100 kilometers per hour, along with space to accommodate rail tracks for the HCMC–Can Tho line.

This new bridge will sit around 4.5 kilometers downstream from the existing Can Tho Bridge, which currently carries a large share of road traffic between Ho Chi Minh City and the lower delta. With its integration of rail capacity and expressway-standard highway lanes, Can Tho 2 is intended to form a crucial junction where the high-speed rail line, regional expressways and local access roads converge.

Further south, the ongoing rollout of the Can Tho–Ca Mau expressway, the southernmost segment of Vietnam’s North–South Expressway East, provides a road backbone that would complement future high-speed rail. For travelers, this layering of expressway and electrified rail options would offer new flexibility, while for logistics operators it opens up multiple corridors to move goods between ports, processing facilities and inland agricultural areas.

Economic Stakes: Rice, Seafood, Tourism and Urban Growth

The Mekong Delta accounts for the bulk of Vietnam’s rice exports and a significant share of its seafood production, yet its transport infrastructure has long lagged behind its economic importance. With much of the region dependent on a handful of overloaded highways and river crossings, logistics costs remain high and travel times unpredictable, especially during holidays and harvest peaks.

Planners see the new high-speed, electrified rail link as a structural answer to these constraints. By shifting a significant volume of passenger and freight movement from road to rail, the line is expected to ease pressure on National Highway 1 and other main arteries, while opening up capacity for longer-distance trucking and specialized cargo. For exporters of rice, fruit and seafood in provinces like Vinh Long, Dong Thap and Ca Mau, faster and more reliable connections to ports near Ho Chi Minh City could translate into more competitive delivery times to international markets.

The tourism implications are equally significant. A high-speed rail journey from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho, and then on to Ca Mau, would give domestic and international visitors a fast, comfortable way to reach the floating markets, canals and mangrove forests that define the delta’s appeal. Destinations such as Dat Mui, currently considered remote by many travelers, could become accessible for short trips from urban centers, encouraging the development of new hospitality and eco-tourism clusters along the line.

For Ho Chi Minh City, which is positioning itself as a regional logistics, finance and aviation hub, the high-speed rail corridor would further extend its catchment area, effectively pulling the Mekong Delta’s labor force and resource base closer to the metropolis. In turn, secondary cities like Can Tho could develop into stronger regional hubs, with stations becoming focal points for new residential, commercial and industrial districts.

Environmental and Social Considerations in a Climate-Vulnerable Region

Building a major high-speed rail corridor through the Mekong Delta involves complex environmental and social trade-offs, particularly in a region already highly vulnerable to climate change, sea level rise and saline intrusion. The electrified nature of the planned railway is a clear environmental advantage over highway expansion alone, reducing long-term greenhouse gas emissions by shifting people and freight from road to rail.

However, the heavy civil works needed to carry a standard-gauge rail line over rivers, canals and flood-prone farmland also raise concerns. Existing pre-feasibility studies for the Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho segment indicate that a large proportion of the route would be built on bridges and viaducts, with the rest elevated on embankments. This design is aimed at maintaining resilience to flooding and minimizing disruption to existing waterways and irrigation channels, but it also increases cost and construction complexity.

Land acquisition and resettlement will be among the most sensitive issues. Estimates for the initial state-led segment to Can Tho point to thousands of households affected and hundreds of hectares of land to be cleared, many of them in productive agricultural zones. Authorities and project sponsors will face pressure to ensure that compensation and relocation policies are perceived as fair, and that farmers receive viable alternatives for livelihoods and community continuity.

At the same time, supporters argue that modern rail infrastructure can be a tool for climate adaptation by reducing reliance on roads that are more exposed to flooding and storm damage. If designed with careful hydrological and environmental assessment, elevated rail structures could allow continued water flow and sediment movement, while maintaining crucial connectivity even during high-water events.

Timelines, Approvals and What Travelers Can Expect Next

For travelers and tourism operators, the key question is when the new high-speed, electrified tracks might actually come into service. On the public side, the Ministry of Transport’s Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho line is advancing through Vietnam’s multi-stage investment approval process. The ministry and related project management boards are working to complete pre-feasibility work and secure National Assembly approval in the second half of this decade, with construction to begin before 2030 and commercial operations in the mid-2030s.

The private-sector CT Group proposal, which adds the high-speed dimension and extends the line to Ca Mau, is currently at an earlier stage of consideration. The company is seeking the right to prepare detailed studies, with discussions ongoing between investors and government ministries on technical standards, integration with the national railway plan, and the structure of the public private partnership.

In parallel, enabling projects such as the Can Tho 2 road and rail bridge and the Can Tho–Ca Mau expressway are moving ahead, laying the physical and institutional groundwork for a more connected Mekong Delta. These developments mean that, even before the first electric train makes the journey from Thu Thiem to Dat Mui, travelers will already begin to see incremental improvements in journey times and route options across the region.

If current plans hold, visitors arriving in Vietnam in the early 2030s could be boarding sleek, electrified trains in Ho Chi Minh City and gliding past rice paddies and river channels at high speed toward the delta’s floating markets and coastal wetlands. For now, the transformative railway remains on the drawing board, but each new decision from Hanoi and each advancement in feasibility work bring the promise of faster travel and deeper connectivity across southern Vietnam a step closer to reality.