HANOI, Vietnam - The French rail maker Alstom and Vietnam's Vingroup have agreed on a deal for 200 metro trains that will run without drivers on Hanoi's expanding urban rail network, the companies said on Tuesday, with most of the fleet to be assembled in Vietnam.
Under the agreement, signed at Vingroup's headquarters in Hanoi, Alstom will design and build the first 83 five-car Metropolis trainsets at its Valenciennes Petite-Forêt plant in France, its center of expertise for metros. Vingroup will assemble the remaining 117 trainsets in Vietnam under a technology license, using key components, engineering expertise and tooling support from Alstom.
The trains will run fully automated and driverless at Grade of Automation 4, or GoA4, the highest level of automation for metro operations, Vingroup said. They will have aluminum car bodies to reduce axle loads and track wear, wide interiors to carry more passengers, and brakes that combine regenerative and disc systems to recover energy.
Neither company disclosed the value of the deal or said when the first trains would arrive, and the statements did not say which lines the trains would serve. Alstom described its share as up to 83 trainsets and said it expected to book the order at financial close.
Vingroup, through its real estate arm Vinhomes, is the general contractor for Hanoi's metro projects. Under the city's master plan, Hanoi intends to build a 979-kilometer urban rail network of 18 lines by 2045, which the companies described as the backbone of the capital's public transport.
"Our strategy is to connect world-class international resources, technologies and expertise with the strong execution capabilities of Vingroup's ecosystem," Nguyen Viet Quang, Vingroup's vice chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
Martin Sion, Alstom's chief executive, attended the signing along with Didier Le Bret, the French ambassador to Vietnam. "This agreement is a major milestone for Alstom in one of the fastest-growing mobility markets in the world," Mr. Sion said.
Alstom has worked in Vietnam for more than 30 years. It supplied and integrated the metro system for Hanoi Metro Line 3, including ten four-car Metropolis trains built in France, its Urbalis 400 signaling system, power supply and depot equipment.
The Hanoi order follows another driverless rail deal for the company in the region. Late last month, Alstom signed a contract worth 460 million euros with the Royal Commission for Riyadh City to supply additional driverless trains for Lines 3, 4 and 6 of the Riyadh Metro in Saudi Arabia.
