Passengers boarding a train on the North-South railway. Photo dangcongsan.vn

HÀ NỘI — Railway firms have announced that they continued to run at a loss in 2021 but to a lesser extent in comparison with 2020.

Hanoi Railway Transport JSC reported a loss of VNĐ121 billion ($5.3 million) in 2021, about VNĐ74 billion lower than the loss in 2020.

The firm put down the shrinkage of loss to its extensive expense-cutting measures, which helped cut expenses by over 21 per cent.

Reductions can be observed in various accounting items, including depreciation expenses, interest expenses and operating costs.

Notably, total expenses decreased by around VNĐ454.7 billion in 2021, more than enough to offset the fall in revenues, resulting in less deficit.

Nguyễn Viết Hiệp, general director of the company, revealed that it would proceed with expense-cutting measures to improve in 2022.

“We are planning to reduce expenses further in 2022. This year’s loss is expected to be lower than last year’s given the improving situation in the transport industry,” said the director.

Sài Gòn Railway Transport JSC followed suit with a fall of VNĐ78.2 billion in losses.

The third and fourth outbreaks of COVID-19 in 2021 dealt a severe blow to its operation.

Accordingly, it had to cut expenses across the board to stay afloat, including reducing the number of operating trains, suspending some labour contracts and making redundancies.

Thanks to such measures, the loss in 2021 stayed at just VNĐ138.9 billion, lower than the figure of VNĐ217 billion in 2020. — VNS