The route runs from Phu Quoc International Airport to the APEC Convention and Exhibition Center and the resort belt at the south of the island, following Provincial Road DT975, which is being widened to 10 lanes.
About 0.78 km is elevated, 14.81 km at grade and 2 km underground. The line, set to use about 38 hectares of land, is designed for speed of 70 to 100 kph, with capacity of about 4,500 passengers an hour.
Five stations sit at ground level and the terminus is underground beneath the convention center. Travel time from the airport is projected at 18 to 20 minutes.
Each station is themed on a different part of Vietnam. Tay Bac, the first stop, uses beige and yellow tones and ceramic panels that echo the rammed earth walls of northern highland communities, with pink trumpet trees and crape myrtles planted around it. Hanoi station borrows paving and roof lines from the capital’s Old Quarter.
Hue station shifts to deep reds drawn from the imperial citadel, set among frangipani and flamboyant trees. Tay Nguyen station references the rong communal houses and forests of the Central Highlands through stone tones and wood grain.
Sai Gon station uses curved arches recalling the Saigon Central Post Office.
The underground terminus, Dao Ngoc, is named for Phu Quoc’s nickname of Pearl Island. Its surface level draws on the folk image of a carp transforming into a dragon, while the space below ground references the island’s fish sauce industry through the white of sea salt, the silver of fish and lighting designed to simulate movement underwater.
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An artist impression of Phu Quoc light rail’s Tay Bac Station. Photo courtesy of Sun Group |
The line is the first urban rail project in Vietnam financed by a private company. Sun Group, one of the country’s largest resort and infrastructure developers, is building phase one under a build-operate-transfer contract with total investment of nearly VND9 trillion (US$342 million), with completion scheduled for the second quarter of 2027.
Chinese manufacturer CRRC Dalian signed a contract with the company in January to build 14 custom three-car trainsets for the line. The first sets are due to arrive at Phu Quoc in January 2027.
Sun Group says all bored piles for the line’s bridges are now complete, with tunnel sections, stations and roadbed under construction simultaneously and track laying due to begin in late August.
Phu Quoc, reclassified as a special zone under An Giang Province in Vietnam’s 2025 administrative overhaul, is the site of 21 government-designated APEC projects worth VND137.138 trillion ($5.2 billion), including an airport expansion and the convention center itself.
A second phase of the light rail is under study for extension toward Duong Dong and An Thoi Port.
Covering more than 570 square kilometers, Phu Quoc is Vietnam’s largest island.