The Vietnamese government has approved a 33-billion-U.S.- dollar plan of the Vietnam Railway Corporation to construct an express railway linking capital Hanoi to southern Ho Chi Minh City.

The government has asked the state-owned corporation to complete the project on building the 1,630-km-long express route with 10 stations by 2013, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Monday.

The corporation expects Japan's official development assistance (ODA) to fund the railway project alongside financing provided by such international organizations as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, as well as domestic sources.

The Korean International Corporation Agency (KOICA) has proposed to build the first section of the route, 366 km from Ho Chi Mih City to central Nha Trang city, in the investment mode of build and transfer.

KOICA experts have said the express railway would allow trains to travel at a speed of 200-350 km per hour. The existing North- South railway allows for a speed of up to 60 km per hour.