Published:  08:33 Wednesday - December 07, 2016

A high-quality train will be put into operation for tourists from Hanoi to Lao Cai, Sapa, Ba Ha and other tourist destinations in Lao Cai Province in the first quarter of 2017.

The news was announced at a conference about combining railways and tourism in 2017 in Lao Cai Province on December 4 by Nguyen Phu Cuong, chairman of Hanoi Railway Transport Joint Stock Company (Haraco), a subsidiary of Vietnam Railways Corporation.

The news was announced at a conference about combining railways and tourism in 2017

According to Haraco, the train will reduce day time travel to six hours and seven hours for overnight trains.

The interiors will be upgraded and specific cars will be used for dining and entertainment with specialities of the areas. Haraco promised to keep the prices reasonable.

They will open a discount programme of 0.5-20% for individuals or organisations that buy more than 20 tickets and tourism firms that participate in Haraco's tourism promotion programme with train.

Bus fares to carry passengers from Lao Cai Station to various hotels in Sapa will be VND35,000 (USD1.54).

Since early 2016, nearly 500,000 visitors have travelled to Lao Cai by train, including 200,000 international tourists.