Transporting Metro Train Cars

GEODIS is transporting, for the French manufacturer Alstom, the 10 metro trains for line 3 of the Hanoi metro, a total of forty railcars. A new train will leave the port of Dunkirk this weekend, aboard the containership Champs Elysées.

Manufactured at the Alstom factory in Petite-Forêt (Valenciennes), the new 4 metro cars that will leave France for Hanoi arrived at Dunkirk by road, with transport arranged, two by two by the GEODIS team, at the end of last week. They will be delivered in Hanoi in less than two months time.

The whole complex move will be spread over a nine-month period and is due to be completed by the mid of the year 2021 2021. A total of 10 shipments are planned. GEODIS Industrial Project teams are managing the end-to-end transport process from France to Vietnam through Malaysia including the loading at Alstom Valenciennes premises, oversized pre-carriage to Dunkirk, port handling, delivery to the destination site and transport engineering. The entire shipment will amount to nearly 10,000 freight tons of passenger railcars and will comprise ten full metro trains.

Johann Taccoen, GEODIS’ Deputy Regional Director, Industrial Projects in France is heavily involved in the management of the move, “This is a meticulous operation that we have been preparing for in close partnership with our customer, the manufacturer Alstom, over several months. Our aim is to ensure that the goods reach their destination safely and securely, all within a very tight timeframe. In particular, our people’s skills in achieving reliable transit times, controlling costs and maintaining safety standards are pivotal.”

The container line CMA CGM that provides the ocean transport, on behalf of GEODIS, needs to trans-ship the cargo in Port Kelang, Malaysia before continuing the journey to Haiphong, the Vietnamese port situated some 190 kilometers from Hanoi. Both the pervading Covid19 restrictions and the need for specially designed lifting equipment at all three ports constitute further challenges for the operations teams.

In Vietnam, Vu Huynh, Industrial Project Manager of GEODIS leads the delivery operation. “The on-carriage of each railcar requires a road convoy of more than 30 meters in length.” he said. “As a consequence the delivery of each metro train set involves two overnight journeys with planning for secure stopping areas and ensuring all safety and traffic impact requirements are fulfilled. Moreover, given space constraints at the Hanoi Metro Depot off-loading site, careful coordination is needed to guarantee a safe, damage-free operation.”

This large-scale project illustrates GEODIS’ ability to overcome logistical challenges together on behalf of its customers.