Long Bien bridge repaired, trains resume service

On the afternoon of 9/2, repair crews completed fixing the damaged steel truss of Long Bien Bridge, allowing trains on the Hanoi - Hai Phong route to resume service across the bridge.

According to Vietnam Railways, the Hai Phong - Hanoi LP8 train was the first to cross the bridge. From 10-12/2, the LP7/LP8 train pair on the Hanoi - Hai Phong route will depart from and terminate at Long Bien station.

Other train services, including LP2/LP3 and LP6/LP5 between Hanoi - Hai Phong, HP2 (Hai Phong - Hanoi), HP1 (Hanoi - Hai Phong), and the SP7/SP8 train pair between Hanoi - Lao Cai, will depart from and terminate at Hanoi station.

The "Hanoi 5 cua o" train, scheduled for 10/2, will also depart from and terminate at Hanoi station, instead of Gia Lam station as previously.

The location of the damaged steel truss, which required one week of repairs. Photo: VNR

On the afternoon of 2/2, employees of Ha Hai Railway Joint Stock Company discovered damage to the upper plated steel truss joint (between O10 and O11) on span 18 of Long Bien Bridge. The contact steel plate was completely fractured, and the upper plated bars were separated at both the upstream and downstream truss joints, directly threatening the safety of the structure and traffic.

Following the discovery of the damage, the railway sector had to close Long Bien Bridge to train traffic to focus on repairs and remediation.

Consequently, all passenger train services on the Hanoi - Hai Phong route and the "Hanoi 5 cua o" train had to change their starting and ending points, picking up and dropping off passengers at Gia Lam station instead of the usual Hanoi station. For cargo transport, trains were rerouted via Thang Long Bridge to access the Bac Hong - Van Dien belt line to Giap Bat station.