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Đường ray tàu 350 km/h khác gì đường ray tàu Thống Nhất? — Transcript

by KỶ NGUYÊN VƯƠN MÌNH · 3,714 words · 585 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Rails are just two steel bars lying in
0:02parallel. So what is different for a
0:04train running at 350 km per hour? The
0:07question sounds simple, but the answer
0:09touches you directly. It determines how
0:11smooth your ride is, how much the line
0:13costs to maintain, and what jobs your
0:15descendants will have in the decades to
0:17come. The answer is beginning in Quang
0:20Ngai. According to Hoa Phat, from
0:23October 2026, the rail factory in Dung
0:25Quat will begin installing and testing
0:28equipment. If everything goes to plan,
0:30the first rails for high-speed trains
0:32will be produced in the first quarter
0:34of 2027. Each rail is up to 100 meters
0:36long. 100 meters is a number worth
0:39pausing over. According to Vietnam
0:41Railways, the rails currently in use
0:43are mostly only 12.5 meters long, with
0:46some being 25 meters. Between two rails
0:49is a joint with a small gap. When train
0:51wheels pass over the gap, they click
0:53and jolt slightly. The familiar
0:55clacking sound of the Reunification
0:56Express is actually the sound of those
0:58joints. High-speed rails are eight
1:00times longer than those common types.
1:03And once on the track, the rails are
1:05welded together into a continuous strip
1:07. Try doing a little division. For
1:10every 1 km, 12.5-meter rails create 80
1:13joints. 100-meter rails only need about
1:1610 welds, meaning potential weak points
1:18are reduced eightfold and the clicking
1:20sound almost disappears. Why must it be
1:22continuous like that? The train runs at
1:24350 km per hour, which is over 97
1:27meters per second. If there is a gap
1:29every 12.5 meters, the wheels would hit
1:32nearly eight gaps every second. Each
1:34impact means a vibration, wear and tear
1:36, and noise. Vietnam's railway industry
1:39itself acknowledges that sections
1:41welded into long rails allow trains to
1:43run up to 100 km per hour. To go three
1:46and a half times faster than that, the
1:48gaps must almost disappear. That is the
1:50first answer for you. A high-speed
1:52railway is, first and foremost, a
1:54railway with almost no joints. This
1:56isn't just about smoothness; every
1:58impact at the joint wears down both the
2:00wheels and the rails, and when they
2:01wear out, they must be repaired or
2:03replaced. In other words, the clacking
2:05sound you hear on the Reunification
2:06Express is actually the sound of
2:08maintenance money running away. Getting
2:10rid of the joints means getting rid of
2:11a recurring repair cost throughout the
2:13life of the railway. So when I say the
2:16answer touches your wallet, I mean it
2:17literally. But removing the gaps
2:20creates a new set of problems for the
2:22rails. To make this episode easier to
2:24follow, I invite you to think of a
2:26ruler. It literally means this.
2:28High-speed rail lines must be a
2:30continuous strip, laid on a non-sinking
2:32base, straight to the millimeter, and
2:34measured for life. A good ruler also
2:36needs exactly those four things. A
2:38single solid piece, placed on a flat
2:40surface, with standard markings, and
2:42regularly re-measured. I will go
2:43through each part one by one. By the
2:45end, you will see that Vietnam's
2:47biggest opportunity doesn't lie on the
2:49day the first rail is laid. Before we
2:51continue, there is one thing Vietnam
2:53did right early on. On November 30,
2:562024, the National Assembly finalized
2:58the scale of the North-South line: a
3:01double-track standard gauge, meaning
3:03the distance between rails is 1435 mm.
3:07With a design speed of 350 km/h, this
3:09gauge is the international standard,
3:11significantly wider than the 1-meter
3:13gauge of the existing unified line.
3:15Choosing the standard gauge means
3:17Vietnam buys, learns, and tests
3:18according to global standards, rather
3:20than going its own way. That is the
3:22rail when it is still in the factory,
3:24clean and perfectly straight. Now, I
3:26will take it outdoors, under the June
3:29sun. Once outside, the rail meets its
3:31greatest enemy. That enemy is not the
3:34train wheels, but the sun. A report
3:37from late June 2026 about a track
3:39inspection team in Hanoi noted that
3:41rail areas can heat up to 55-60 degrees
3:43Celsius. Heat radiates from the steel
3:46and from the ballast layer below. Steel
3:48expands when hot; short rails have
3:50joints, so they expand slightly and
3:52fill the gap. But rails welded into
3:54long strips have no gaps left to fill.
3:56So, what do they do? The answer sounds
3:59counterintuitive. They prevent the rail
4:00from expanding. When welding and
4:02fastening the rails to the base,
4:04engineers choose a temperature called
4:05the rail-locking temperature. At that
4:07temperature, the rail is neither pushed
4:09nor pulled. In the UK, this level is 27
4:12degrees. In the US, the figure ranges
4:14between 35 and 43 degrees. If it gets
4:16hotter than the locking level, the rail
4:18wants to expand but is held tight, so
4:20it gets compressed from both ends. If
4:22it gets colder, it wants to shrink, so
4:24it gets stretched. Imagine a bamboo
4:26pole held tightly at both ends by two
4:28people pushing inward. If they push
4:30hard enough, it will buckle and snap to
4:32the side. Rails are the same. On July
4:3420, 2022, the UK had to close the East
4:36Coast Main Line between Edinburgh and
4:38London for several hours due to
4:40excessive heat. In England, when the
4:44air reaches 30 degrees, rails under the
4:46sun can heat up to 50 degrees. The cold
4:49also has its own price. The British
4:51railway authority explains that in cold
4:53weather, the rails are already
4:54stretched tight. They have less
4:56capacity to withstand additional forces
4:58. This means there is no single
5:00rail-locking temperature for every
5:01location. The figure must be chosen to
5:03accommodate both the hottest day and
5:05the coldest night. The force within the
5:06rail must remain below the threshold.
5:08Vietnam is a long country. The North
5:10has winters, while the Central region
5:12has harsh sun and winds. The South is
5:13hot all year round. The North-South
5:15line, over 1,500 km long, passes
5:17through all three regions. Therefore,
5:20the rail-locking temperature for the
5:21line must be calculated based on the
5:23heat and cold of each section, not
5:24copied from the UK or the US. At this
5:26point, you might ask why not leave a
5:28few gaps for the rails to breathe?
5:30Because at 97 meters per second, every
5:32gap is a jolt and a repair cost. They
5:35choose to let the force remain in the
5:37rails in exchange for a smooth train
5:38ride. That trade-off is only safe when
5:40the rail-locking temperature is chosen
5:42correctly. Here is an easy rule to
5:43remember: standard rails have gaps to
5:45expand, while continuous rails must
5:46bear the stress themselves. High-speed
5:48trains are smooth because there are no
5:50more gaps. In return, there is always a
5:52dormant compressive or tensile force
5:53inside the rail. If this perspective
5:56helps you see that high-speed tracks
5:58are not simply longer steel bars,
5:59please subscribe to the "Kỷ Nguyên
6:01Vươn Mình" channel to continue with
6:03me. Heat also has a remedy through a
6:05very simple method. In the UK,
6:07white-painted rails are usually 5 to 10
6:09degrees cooler than exposed rails. But
6:11paint is only a superficial solution.
6:13To keep continuous rails stable under
6:15the sun, They need to be placed on
6:16something that holds them firmly. And
6:18here, high-speed rail begins to part
6:20ways with ballast. Looking down at the
6:22Unified Express tracks, you will see a
6:24layer of crushed stone. The rails sit
6:26on sleepers, which are horizontal bars
6:28made of concrete or wood, and the
6:29sleepers sit on that layer of stone.
6:31Industry insiders call it "ballasted
6:33track," meaning track placed on stone.
6:36The stone layer has the advantage of
6:38being easy to build and maintain. But
6:40every time a train passes, the ballast
6:42shifts slightly, requiring frequent
6:44tamping. For trains running at 80 or
6:47100 km/h, that is acceptable. At 350 km
6:51/h, the ballast layer encounters a new
6:54issue. Wind and vibrations under the
6:56train can cause small stones to fly up.
6:58Railway researchers classify this "
7:01flying ballast" phenomenon as a major
7:03issue when speeds exceed 300 km/h.
7:05Flying stones strike the underside of
7:07the train and damage its equipment.
7:08Therefore, the faster it goes, the more
7:10the ballast becomes a burden instead of
7:12a support. The solution is to remove
7:14the ballast layer. Instead, rails are
7:16attached to precast or cast-in-place
7:18concrete slabs. This is called "
7:21ballastless track," meaning track
7:22without stones. In 2016, two professors
7:25from the University of Transport and
7:28Communications, Pham Van Ky and Bui
7:30Tien Thanh, wrote that this is a
7:32growing trend. They identified four
7:34benefits. It maintains high precision
7:36and reduces vibration. It keeps the
7:38continuously welded rails from shifting
7:40laterally and costs less to maintain
7:42over the life of the project. Take note
7:44of the third benefit. It directly
7:46addresses concerns about thermal
7:48expansion. Both professors also noted
7:50that selecting specific structures must
7:52account for the tropical climate.
7:54However, concrete slabs have a very
7:56strict requirement. They are rigid and
7:58cannot withstand ground subsidence.
8:00According to Chinese design standards,
8:03cited in a 2020 study, ballasted track
8:05can subside up to 100 mm, while
8:07ballastless track is limited to 15 mm,
8:10meaning less than 2 cm. With ballast,
8:14if the ground subsides, adding more
8:16stones can compensate for it. With
8:18concrete slabs, if the ground subsides,
8:20the entire foundation underneath must
8:22be treated. This means the cost of
8:23ballastless track lies in the
8:25foundation from the very start. You
8:27have seen this type of risk right
8:28around you. Many roads are newly built.
8:31A few years later, they subside at the
8:33bridge approaches, causing cars to
8:34bounce when driving over. For a car,
8:36that is just an annoying bump. For a
8:39high-speed train, such a subsidence is
8:41not permitted. So with ballastless
8:43track, money must be poured into the
8:45ground before pouring it into concrete.
8:47The North-South line has another detail
8:49that complicates the foundation problem
8:51: the National Assembly set the axle
8:53load at 22.5 tons and explicitly stated
8:55that the line can carry freight when
8:57needed. Meanwhile, an expert from a
8:59domestic bridge construction firm
9:01stated that high-speed trains typically
9:03have an axle load of 17 to 20 tons,
9:05meaning the North-South line's
9:07foundation is designed for heavier
9:08trains than usual. That is a deliberate
9:11choice, trading extra load-bearing
9:13capacity for added utility. Therefore,
9:15the most suitable place for ballastless
9:17track is where the support underneath
9:19is already rigid, such as on viaducts
9:21and in tunnels. For areas with soft
9:23soil, choosing which type of track for
9:25each section is a major financial
9:26decision. And this is the part I want
9:28you to pay attention to. In the
9:30published documents that I have
9:31researched, there is no line that
9:33specifies the track structure type for
9:34the North-South line. That decision is
9:36still open, so this is truly the right
9:38time to understand it. The foundation
9:40is level and the rails are continuous,
9:42but high-speed trains require something
9:43much smaller. Something as small as 1
9:46mm. 1 mm sounds like a tailor's
9:47business, not something related to
9:49railways. But remember the figure of
9:52over 97 meters per second. At that
9:54speed, a small misalignment on the rail
9:56is no longer just a bump you glide over
9:58. It becomes a jolt to the wheels, to
10:01the springs, and then to the passengers
10:02on the train. Over a thousand
10:04kilometers, just a few such
10:06misalignments are enough to ruin a
10:07smooth ride. Therefore, the faster the
10:09train, the smaller the allowable
10:11deviation must be. At this point, you
10:13might think the hardest part is the
10:14installation, and once it's set
10:16correctly, it's finished. Japan, where
10:18high-speed trains have been running
10:20since 1964, shows the opposite.
10:22Installing it perfectly is just the
10:24first day. After that, trains run
10:26continuously, sun and rain alternate,
10:28and the ground beneath still shifts
10:29slightly. The alignment will gradually
10:32drift, so high-speed tracks must be
10:34inspected regularly. In Japan. For many
10:36years, this inspection was handled by a
10:38yellow-painted train. The Japanese
10:40playfully call it the "Doctor Yellow."
10:42It runs right on the high-speed line,
10:44measuring the tracks while in motion.
10:46Then, not long ago, the yellow train of
10:48Central Japan Railway Company ran its
10:50final trip. The remaining yellow train
10:54of West Japan Railway Company will
10:56retire in January 2027. The Japanese
10:59are not giving up on the inspection.
11:01They are moving the measuring equipment
11:03to new passenger trains, with the plan
11:05starting in 2027. This means instead of
11:08waiting for a separate inspection train
11:10, the passenger trains themselves will
11:12carry passengers while measuring the
11:13tracks. This is what most people fail
11:16to see when talking about high-speed
11:17rail. Everyone looks at the
11:19inauguration day, the day the first
11:21rail is laid. But construction has an
11:23end date. Measuring and repairing last
11:26the entire lifetime of the track. The
11:28takeaway I want you to have is that
11:29high-speed tracks are not built once;
11:31they are re-measured for a lifetime.
11:33Why make such a change? A dedicated
11:36inspection train only runs on schedule,
11:38while passenger trains run every day.
11:40Putting sensors on passenger trains
11:42means the track is measured more often
11:44without extra runs. As data grows,
11:48maintenance crews see trends, knowing
11:50which sections are shifting to fix them
11:52before they become issues. Inspection
11:54has shifted from scheduled check-ups to
11:56continuous monitoring. China follows a
11:58different path but with the same
11:59objective. Their new-generation
12:02infrastructure inspection train is
12:04designed to measure at speeds up to 450
12:06km/h, faster than passenger trains. Two
12:10countries, two approaches, but arriving
12:12at the same point. High-speed tracks
12:14must be measured more frequently,
12:16faster, and closer to real train
12:18conditions. The more frequent the
12:19measurements, the sooner deviations are
12:21spotted while small and cheap to fix.
12:23What do the sensors on those trains
12:25measure, and how do they know if a rail
12:27is off by 1 mm? That is the graduation
12:30on the ruler, and it is the most
12:31valuable part in the long run. The
12:34sensors ask the track some very
12:35practical questions. Are the two rails
12:38spaced exactly 1435 mm apart? Are the
12:41two rails at the same height? Is the
12:43rail straight and even according to the
12:45designed alignment? Every question has
12:46an allowable threshold. According to a
12:48research paper on ballastless track
12:50construction in China, installation
12:52deviation is only about 1 mm. The
12:54concrete slab molds must be even more
12:56precise, deviating by less than half a
12:58millimeter. This means the concrete
13:00slab must be more precise than the rail
13:02resting on it. So how can you lay rail
13:05over 1500 km of track with only 1 mm of
13:08deviation? The answer is a network of
13:10survey benchmarks running along the
13:12line. According to a study on Chinese
13:14high-speed lines, there is a pair of
13:16benchmarks firmly attached to the
13:18structure every 50 to 70 meters.
13:20Sensors rely on these marks to know the
13:22deviation at every point, and workers
13:24adjust accordingly, much like a mason
13:26using a string line and level when
13:28tiling a floor. The only difference is
13:30that this line spans the entire route
13:32and must not sag at any point.
13:34Reference markers must also be placed
13:35on stable, non-settling ground. If a
13:37marker sinks with the foundation, the
13:39measuring tool shifts too, and the
13:41surveyor will not know they are wrong.
13:42Now, if you put these three chapters
13:44together, you will find something
13:45interesting. Every enemy I mentioned
13:47manifests as a measurement in
13:48millimeters. Heat causes lateral rail
13:50displacement, leading to misalignment.
13:52Foundation settlement leads to vertical
13:54deviation. Every remaining joint
13:56results in a jolt. Therefore, the
13:57precision of high-speed rail does not
13:59lie solely in the steel rails. The
14:01tracks, stable foundation, and
14:02surveying network must all work
14:04together. Missing any one of these
14:06ruins the 1 mm accuracy. In short, a
14:08standard high-speed line relies on
14:10precise measurement, not just steel.
14:12One detail surprised me during my
14:14research, and it shows why measurement
14:16data is so valuable. Europe has a set
14:18of common technical regulations for
14:20railways, including vertical deviation
14:22limits that must be fixed immediately.
14:24However, for trains running over 300 km
14:27/h, the 2023 guidelines still do not
14:30provide a universal figure. This means
14:33that at top speeds, each route must
14:35rely heavily on its own data and
14:36experience. Whoever has the most
14:39extensive data understands their line
14:41the best. Measuring devices are mounted
14:43on passenger trains. So, they don't
14:44just find faults; they gradually build
14:46a medical record for the track, and the
14:48North-South route will also need its
14:50own book. Now, compare those measuring
14:53machines to a scene in Hanoi. The late
14:56June news report I mentioned in chapter
14:582 tells of Mr. Phung Quang Hung, a
15:00track inspection team leader. He
15:02carries a 7 kg tool bag and walks to
15:04inspect about 20 km of track between
15:07stations. He observes the rails, joints
15:10, bolts, and sleepers. That method is
15:12suitable for slow-speed lines. At 350
15:15km/h, the human eye cannot detect a 1
15:17mm deviation over hundreds of
15:19kilometers of track. But the skill of
15:22diagnosing rail issues that Mr. Hung
15:23possesses remains fundamental. Machines
15:25only show where the deviation is;
15:27people are still the ones who decide
15:29how to fix it. That type of work has an
15:31important characteristic: it is hard to
15:33outsource. The workers must be near the
15:35line, familiar with every segment, and
15:37maintain the line's own data over many
15:39years. In this final chapter, I place
15:41this ruler alongside what Vietnam
15:43currently has in its hands. You will
15:45see that this long-term work could
15:46become the profession of your own
15:48children. Looking from the ruler,
15:50Vietnam already has more in its hands
15:52than you might think. The ruler's body
15:54is the rail, and the Dung Quat factory
15:56is about to test its high-speed rail
15:57production as I mentioned at the start.
16:00As for the weld testing, there is
16:01already someone doing it. On May 21,
16:042026, there was news about Quality
16:06Assurance and Testing Center 3. This
16:09center has upgraded its capacity for
16:11testing rail welds for metros and
16:13high-speed railways. The center’s
16:16machine can press a weld sample 5
16:17million times to test its durability.
16:21This center has also tested rail welds
16:23right on-site for Metro Line 1 in Ho
16:25Chi Minh City. This means the weakest
16:28point of continuous welded rails can
16:30already be tested by Vietnamese. The
16:32people measuring are also already
16:34included in the plan. In June 2026, a
16:36railway human resource training plan
16:38was announced, where about 200 people
16:41will learn inspection, acceptance, and
16:43construction supervision processes.
16:46About 200 others will receive
16:48maintenance technology for major
16:49repairs of locomotives, carriages, and
16:51infrastructure. 200 people is a small
16:54number compared to the entire line. But
16:56this is the first group receiving the
16:58technology, so the quality of this
17:00group will determine how future groups
17:02operate. The work has begun, and there
17:04are still many vacancies ahead. There
17:06is a risk that needs to be stated
17:08clearly. If the measurement and repair
17:10aspects are not transferred deeply
17:11enough, Vietnam may have to hire
17:13outsiders to hold its ruler for many
17:15decades. That risk can be avoided under
17:17one condition. Measurement processes,
17:20equipment, and data must be treated as
17:22a part of the technology to be received
17:23, equal to the trains themselves. The
17:26plan having a specific group for
17:28infrastructure maintenance technology
17:30shows that this direction has been set.
17:32However, in the documents I have
17:34researched, there is no line
17:35specifically mentioning rail
17:36measurement equipment. That is
17:38understandable because the technology
17:39and partners for the line have not yet
17:41been finalized. As each part is
17:42finalized, it should be recorded
17:44accordingly. The work of holding the
17:46ruler also has a very encouraging point
17:47for local areas. The North-South line
17:49passes through many provinces and
17:51cities, from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City.
17:53Every section of the line needs someone
17:54nearby to measure, to repair, and to
17:56monitor the rails through every season.
17:58This means the long-term work for this
18:00road won't be concentrated in just one
18:02factory or city. It will be spread
18:04along the entire line wherever the
18:05train passes, and there is still time.
18:08On September 8, 2026, the Minister of
18:10Construction concluded that efforts
18:12must be made to start the North-South
18:15line in December 2027. That leaves
18:18about 15 months from now, meaning there
18:20is still enough time to prepare the
18:21personnel. During that time, the
18:23choices I mentioned will gradually be
18:25finalized on paper. Whether the tracks
18:27are ballasted or not, the rail locking
18:28temperatures for each region, and who
18:30will be the first team of surveyors. So
18:31, where does the opportunity lie for
18:33you? If you are a parent, professions
18:35like surveying, rail welding, material
18:37testing, and railway maintenance will
18:39be in demand for decades, not just
18:41during the few years of construction.
18:43If you are in business or investing,
18:45look beyond just cement and steel
18:47during the construction phase. The
18:48long-term money is in the measuring,
18:50testing, repairing, and replacing. I am
18:52not advising you to buy any specific
18:54stocks. I am only pointing out where
18:56the money will flow steadily over many
18:58years, rather than just once. And you
19:00will notice those pieces are scattered
19:02in many different places. The rail
19:04factory in Quang Ngai, the weld testing
19:06lab in the South, track patrol teams in
19:08Hanoi, and transport schools training
19:10the workforce. Each piece is already
19:12there, but they haven't been assembled
19:13into a complete gauge. So the big task
19:16between now and the end of 2027 is to
19:18piece them together so that when the
19:20trains run, the people holding the
19:22gauge are ready. If you want to see how
19:26rails are made and certified, the
19:28episode on rail steel for the
19:29Hanoi-Quang Ninh line on this channel
19:31covers it in depth. And if you want to
19:34follow this gauge until the North-South
19:36line finalizes its rail type, subscribe
19:38to the Ky Nguyen Vuong Minh channel. I
19:40will revisit it whenever there is a new
19:42document. I leave you with a question.
19:45If you had to choose, would you rather
19:46invest more money during construction
19:48to build it perfectly to avoid repairs
19:49later, or build it moderately and save
19:51the money for decades of measuring and
19:52repairs? Ah.

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