Ho Chi Minh City Partners with State Firm to Localize Metro Technology

Under an agreement signed on July 17 between GTEL and the Ho Chi Minh City Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), the two sides will cooperate on system integration, technology acquisition and technology transfer for the city’s metro network. In the initial phase, solutions will be deployed on the Ben Thanh-Tham Luong route (Metro Line No. 2) and other metro projects scheduled for 2026-2030. The focus will be on researching and mastering technologies related to communications, signaling, power supply, electromechanical systems, supervisory control and data acquisition, operations control centers, and automatic fare collection. Leaders of Global Technology and Telecommunications Corporation and Ho Chi Minh City Management Authority for Urban Railways at a signing ceremony to cooperate on metro technology on July 17, 2026. Photo by VnExpress/Ha Giang GTEL and MAUR will also study and apply advanced technologies to the metro system, including artificial intelligence, digital twins, building information modelling, geographic information systems, the Internet of Things, big data, and electronic identification. These solutions are intended to improve management, operations and maintenance efficiency, with the long-term goal of building an integrated control center for HCMC’s entire urban railway network. Through the partnership, the two sides also aim to develop human resources and strengthen the capabilities of domestic enterprises, thereby increasing the localization of metro technologies. GTEL was established in 2007 under the Ministry of Public Security’s General Department of Logistics and Technology. It operates in technology, security industry, telecommunications services and data-driven digital solutions. In 2017, the corporation was transferred to the Cybersecurity Department, now known as the Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention, before being placed directly under the Ministry of Public Security in May this year. Colonel Luong Duc Minh, GTEL’s chairman, said the corporation would leverage its strengths in digital technology to work with MAUR on system integration and technology transfer for the metro network. He said the two sides had previously discussed various project-related issues and would soon move toward practical applications, with the goal of gradually mastering metro technologies, ensuring cybersecurity and improving operational efficiency. Hoang Nguyen Dinh, vice chairman of the city People’s Committee, said the city aims to complete about 200 km of metro lines by 2030. Increasing the localization rate is a key priority to enhance investment autonomy, reduce costs and ensure security for nationally important infrastructure projects. A train moves on the track of HCMC's Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien metro line. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran City leaders described the agreement between GTEL and MAUR as an important first step toward achieving those objectives and called on both organizations to quickly implement concrete cooperation programs, including technology standardization, shared data systems, technology transfer, workforce training and capacity building for Vietnamese companies. Following the recent expansion of its administrative boundaries, HCMC has planned an urban railway network of more than 1,000 km. The city currently operates nearly 20 km of Metro Line 1 between Ben Thanh and Suoi Tien, and plans to complete seven additional metro lines by 2030. Subsidiary of VnExpress License number: 71/GP-CBC, Ministry of Information andCommunications, September 22, 2021 Editor-in-Chief: Pham Van Hieu Email: [email protected]: 028 7300 9999 - Ext 8556 10th floor, Block A FPT Tower, 10 Pham Van Bach, Cau Giay Ward, Hanoi