Rail transport in Vietnam
Encyclopedia
The railway system in Vietnam
is owned and operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways
. The principal route, the single track
North-South Railway running between Hanoi
and Ho Chi Minh City
, accounts for 1726 kilometres (1,072.5 mi) of the network's total length of 2600 kilometres (1,615.6 mi). The national railway network uses mainly metre gauge
, although there are several standard gauge
and mixed gauge lines in the North of the country.
running between the ports of Saigon
and Cholon, and a regional rail
line connecting Saigon with My Tho. Railway construction flourished soon afterwards, during the administration of Paul Doumer
as Governor-General of French Indochina
from 1897 to 1902. It was during this time that construction of the Yunnan–Vietnam and North–South railways began. Construction of the North-South line took over thirty years, finally beginning operation in 1936, during which time other branch lines were also completed. Beginning in World War II
, the entire rail network became a target of bombing attacks by a number of groups, including both North Vietnam
ese and South Vietnam
ese troops during the Vietnam War
. Although the main lines—particularly the North–South line—were quickly restored and returned to service once conflict ended, many branch lines were abandoned and dismantled at their expense, their infrastructure used to replace damaged sections of the main lines, or sold as scrap
.
With increased economic growth brought on by the Doi Moi reforms of the late 1980s, the railway system has entered a renewed phase of development. A number of major projects supported by official development assistance
have been proposed or are currently underway, including a series of projects to improve bridge and railway safety on the North-South Railway line, connections to Cambodia
and Laos
, and the restoration of a number of defunct lines, including the Đà Lạt–Tháp Chàm railway
first established in the 1930s. A high-speed rail link
between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City has also been proposed, which would reduce journey length from 30 hours to around 6 hours.
's 2010 Green Book
on Vietnam. According to reports by the Asian Development Bank
, however, the role of rail transport is growing, carving out a significant role for itself in long-distance bulk cargo transport.
The following table gives an overview of rail transport volume and traffic over the period from 1998–2008:
administration of Indochina
. The earliest rail project to be completed was the Saigon–Cholon tram
way, established in 1881 in what was then Cochinchina
, operated by the Cochinchina Steam Tramway Company (SGTVC). After a month of operation, the Lieutenant Governor of Cochinchina noted that ridership had already reached two thousand passengers. Construction of the first regional rail
project, linking Saigon
and My Tho, began in the same year, to be completed soon afterwards in 1885. The Saigon–My Tho line reduced travel time between the two cities from 12 hours to only 3 hours, and established a connection between Saigon and the shipping lanes of the Mekong Delta
. The first railway in Tonkin
, a gauge line connecting Lang Son
to Phu Lang Thuong (now known as Bac Giang
), was established in 1895.
Railway construction multiplied during the administration of Paul Doumer
as Governor-General of French Indochina
from 1897 to 1902. Doumer's predecessor, Jean Marie de Lanessan
, had been convinced of the necessity of building railways to connect the different parts of Indochina, and had identified certain key routes that should be built as a matter of priority; among these, a route connecting Hanoi
and Saigon, and another connecting Hanoi and Lao Cai
. In 1897, Doumer submitted an overarching proposal for railway development in Indochina, including plans for what would eventually become the Yunnan–Vietnam Railway and the North–South Railway
. The French government approved the construction of the entire Yunnan line and several sections of the North–South line, approving a loan of 200 million francs within the following year. Work began swiftly thereafter, with the Phu Lang Thuong—Lang Son line being upgraded and extended from Hanoi to the Chinese border at Dong Dang by 1902, and the first section of the Yunnan line between Hanoi
and Haiphong
opening in the same year.
The Hanoi–Haiphong railway was one leg of the Yunnan–Vietnam Railway, which had begun construction in 1900, and continued northward with the erection of Paul Doumer Bridge (now known as Long Bien Bridge
) in 1902, the largest bridge in Southeast Asia at that time. Construction on the Yunnan line continued northwestward towards the border town of Lao Cai, opening in segments beginning in 1903; the entire Hanoi–Lao Cai line was finally opened in 1906. Finally, in 1910, the line was extended to its final destination of Kunming
. Construction of the Yunnan line was an extremely difficult undertaking, incurring not only great expenditures but also a great loss of human life. At least 12,000 labourers died from malaria
or accidents, 10,000 of these in the Nam-ti Valley alone.
Construction of the North–South Railway began in 1899, and lasted over thirty years, with individual sections completed serially: from 1899 to 1905, the Hanoi–Vinh
section was laid down, followed by the Nha Trang–Saigon section from 1905 to 1913, then the Vinh–Huế
section from 1913 to 1927, and finally, the remaining Huế–Nha Trang
section from 1930 to 1936. On 2 October 1936, the entire 1726 km (1,072.5 mi) Hanoi–Saigon link was formally put into full operation. The first journeys from end to end of the newly completed line, dubbed the Transindochinois, generally took about 60 hours, or two days and three nights. This decreased to about 40 hours by the late 1930s, with trains travelling at an average speed of 43 kph.
From the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War
in 1937, the railway into Yunnan
served as a channel for arms shipments to the Chinese Kuomintang
. French refusal to halt shipments of arms and other war-related goods to China through Tonkin eventually provoked the Invasion of French Indochina by Japanese forces in 1940. The Japanese used the railway system extensively during their occupation, inviting sabotage by the Viet Minh
as well as airborne Allied bombing raids. The railways sustained considerable damage, including the destruction of bridges.
Shortly after World War II ended, the First Indochina War
began, and the Viet Minh's sabotage of the rail system continued, this time against the armies of the French Union
. The French returned several sections of the railway to full operation, allowing trains to circulate freely from Saigon to Ninh Hoa, Saigon to Loc Ninh
, Saigon to My Tho and Hue to Tourane (Da Nang) by the end of 1947. The sections lying between Nha Trang
and Tourane and north of Hue were judged to be too insecure to be returned to service at the time.
Early in the conflict, the Viet Minh's sabotage attempts failed to seriously damage the French railways, and most trains circulated without much protection. Beginning in 1947, however, the Viet Minh began to use mines, with circulation slowing to a crawl as they became more and more powerful. In response, the French began using the armed armoured train
La Rafale as both a cargo-carrier and a mobile surveillance unit. In February 1951 the first Rafale was in service on the Saigon-Nha Trang section of the North–South line, manned by the 2e Etranger (French Foreign Legion
). Use of the Rafale failed to deter the Viet Minh, however, who continued sabotaging the line, making off with its rails under cover of night and using them to create a new 300 kilometres (186.4 mi) rail network between Ninh Hoa and Da Nang, in a Viet Minh-controlled area. In 1954, following the signature of the Geneva Accords
and the end of the First Indochina War, Vietnam—along with its railway system—was divided along the Ben Hai River
in Quang Tri Province
.
Throughout the Vietnam War
, the Vietnamese railway network—especially the North–South Railway—was a target of bombardments and sabotage by both North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese forces. In the South, American aid allowed the South Vietnam
ese government to reconstruct the main line between Saigon and Hue, and several branch lines were also completed. As reconstruction efforts advanced, however, bombardments and sabotage of the railways by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese intensified, reducing the transportation capacity and effectiveness of the railway, and eventually forcing the abandonment of many large sections of the track. In 1964, Typhoons Joan and Iris, the worst to strike Vietnam in sixty-five years, damaged the railway system even further, restricting operations to five separated segments. A second reconstruction effort, assisted again by the U.S. government, began in December 1966, and progressed in those areas where security was re-established. The system reopened 340 kilometers of main line in areas where security was restored.
In North Vietnam, American bombing of railways was concentrated on key targets such as bridges, both along the North–South Railway and along the lines north of Hanoi, such as the Hanoi–Lao Cai and Hanoi–Dong Dang lines. At several points during the war, American bombing severely hindered transport along both lines, on which the North Vietnamese depended for shipments from their Chinese allies. Operation Rolling Thunder
was the first large-scale bombing campaign carried out by the U.S. Air Force, taking place from March 2, 1965 until November 1, 1968, when US President
Lyndon B. Johnson
temporarily called off air raids. Large-scale air raids resumed from May 9 to October 23, 1972, for Operation Linebacker
, and again from December 18–29, 1972, for Operation Linebacker II
, with fewer target restrictions than Rolling Thunder.
Railway engineering troops from the People's Republic of China
, deployed in late June 1965, were tasked with repairing the damage caused by the bombing. By late December of that year, reconstruction was complete on 363 kilometers of both the Hanoi–Lao Cai and Hanoi–Dong Dang lines, significantly increasing shipping capacity. A third rail was added to the existing lines, using standard gauge
spacing, effectively converting them to mixed gauge lines. This allowed Chinese trains to connect directly with the Vietnamese railway network, without the need for a break-of-gauge. Many new stations, bridges and tunnels were also built, and an entirely new rail line, the Thai Nguyen–Kep line, was built as a strategic connection between the Hanoi–Dong Dang and Hanoi–Thai Nguyen lines.
A particularly difficult target for U.S. Air Force bombers was the Thanh Hoa Bridge
, a well-defended combined road/rail bridge along the main line in Thanh Hoa Province. The bridge was attacked several times from 1965 to 1972. Several times, traffic over the bridge was interrupted, but every time, the North Vietnamese were able to repair the damage. The bridge was eventually destroyed by laser-guided smart bomb
s during separate raids on April 27 and May 13, 1972, as part of Operation Linebacker.
After the Fall of Saigon
on 30 April 1975, the Communist government of the newly unified Vietnam took control of the former South Vietnamese railway. The heavily damaged, war-torn North–South line was restored and returned to service on 31 December 1976, promoted as a symbol of Vietnamese unity. In the short time between the surrender of the South and the reopening of the line, 1334 bridges, 27 tunnels, 158 stations and 1370 switches had been repaired. Other railway lines that once existed, such as the Da Lat-Thap Cham
line, were dismantled during this period to provide materials for the repair of the main line. The outbreak of the Sino–Vietnamese War in 1979 resulted in the closing of borders, including railways; particularly, the railway bridge that connected Lao Cai and Hekou on the Yunnan–Vietnam line was destroyed by sabotage during the conflict. Rail traffic between the two countries would eventually resume in 1992.
Several railway lines have been proposed for construction in Vietnam in recent years. The largest such project is the high-speed
North-South Express Railway
connecting Ha Noi
and Ho Chi Minh City
, (see High-speed rail, below) valued at approximately US$
56 billion. Due to its cost, plans for the line are currently on hold pending further study of the project. Other projects involve the restoration of previously existing lines, such as the Da Lat–Tháp Chàm and Ho Chi Minh City–Loc Ninh lines, both of which were originally built in the 1930s, but fell into disuse after decades of war. The proposed Ho Chi Minh City–Loc Ninh and Mu Gia–Vung Ang lines (both of which had either existed or been considered before World War II) would establish Vietnam's first international railway links to Cambodia
and Laos
, respectively.
The railway link from Haiphong
to the Chinese
city of Kunming
was originally built by the French
administration of Indochina
in the early 20th century. The section within Vietnam
is 389 km long (237 km between Hanoi and the border at Lao Cai
). The railway used gauge due to the mountainous terrain along the route. Currently, the line is the only main line in China using metre gauge
, (or dual gauge
, since it can also be converted
to standard gauge
). Railway service along the Chinese portion of the route is currently suspended. Cross-border service was available until 2002, when floods and landslides, which frequently caused delays along the route, caused serious damage to the tracks on the Chinese side. The railway will form the Chinese part of the Singapore-Kunming Rail Link, which is expected to be completed in 2015.
Railway access to Nanning
is done through the border at Dong Dang, in Lang Son Province
. Regular service generally entails stopping at the border, changing from a Vietnamese metre-gauge train to a Chinese standard-gauge train, and continuing on to Nanning. Since 2009, a daily overnight service is available; the train departs from Hanoi's Gia Lam Railway Station
, and runs on standard-gauge tracks all the way to Nanning.
Cambodia
There is currently no railway connection between Vietnam and Cambodia. The French
administration of Indochina
originally built a railway from Saigon to Loc Ninh
in the 1930s, with the intent of extending it further into Cambodia. It was abandoned in 1945, at the start of the First Indochina War
. A new line connecting Ho Chi Minh City
to Phnom Penh
, Cambodia, was proposed as part of the Singapore–Kunming Rail Link project, overseen by the ASEAN–Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (AMBDC). The 129 km (80.2 mi) Vietnamese portion of the line would begin with a junction of the North-South Railway
at Di An Railway Station
, and would end in Lộc Ninh
, Binh Phuoc Province
, close to the Cambodian border. According to the plan established by ASEAN, this stretch is scheduled for completion by 2020.
Laos
There is currently no railway connection between Vietnam and Laos. In 2007, the Laotian Ministry of Transportation entered into discussion with Vietnam to discuss the possibility of opening a new railway line from Thakhek
in Laos
through the Mu Gia Pass
to Tan Ap Railway Station
in Quang Binh Province
, connecting to the national railway at Vung Ang, a port in Ha Tinh Province which the Vietnamese Government plans to expand. This would revive, in part, an earlier but aborted scheme, the Thakhek - Tan Ap railway. According to plans established by ASEAN, the line may be extended via Thakhek all the way to the Laotian capital Vientiane
. Both Laos and Thailand have expressed interest in the project as a shorter export gateway to the Pacific Ocean.
National railway company Vietnam Railways
has proposed a high-speed rail
link between Hanoi
and Ho Chi Minh City
, capable of running at speeds of 300 km/h (186 mph). Funding for the line would come mainly from the Vietnamese government, with Japanese aid in the form of official development assistance
(ODA). Current technology allows trains travelling on the current, single-track Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City line
to complete the journey in approximately thirty hours. Once completed, the high-speed rail line—using Japanese Shinkansen
technology—would allow trains to complete the Hanoi–Ho Chi Minh City journey in less than six hours.
Vietnamese prime minister
Nguyen Tan Dung had originally set an ambitious target, approving a 1630 km (1,012.8 mi) line to be completed by 2013, with 70 percent of funding (initially estimated at US$
33 billion) coming from Japanese ODA, and the remaining 30 percent raised through loans. Later reports raised estimated costs to US$56 billion (almost 60 percent of Vietnam's GDP
in 2009) for a completion date in the mid-2030s. On June 19, 2010, after a month of deliberation, Vietnam's National Assembly rejected the high speed rail proposal due to its high cost; National Assembly deputies had asked for further study of the project.
network to serve Ho Chi Minh City
was first proposed in 2001 as part of a comprehensive public transport network plan including Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring provinces. The project is managed by the city's Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), a government unit working directly under the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. The city’s plan envisages developing three monorail
or light rail
lines with a total length of 37 kilometres (23 mi) and six underground metro
routes with a total length of 107 kilometres (66.5 mi). The network's first line, connecting Bến Thành Market
and Suoi Tien Park
in District 9
, is scheduled for completion in 2015, and a second line between Bến Thành Market
and Tham Luong in District 12
is due to begin construction in August 2010, scheduled for completion in 2016. Other proposed lines include: a Bến Thành Market
–Binh Tan line via Cholon
; a line running from Lang Cha Ca in Tan Binh district to Van Thanh Park in Binh Thanh district; a line connecting Thu Thiem
in District 2
with Can Giuoc in District 8
; and a line stretching from Ba Queo in Tan Binh district to Phu Lam in District 6
.
Nguyễn Tấn Dũng approved an overall transport development plan for Hanoi, which, among other projects, proposed a rapid transit
system with five routes. The project is being carried out by the Hanoi Metropolitan Rail Transport Project Board (HRB). As of spring 2009, projects for four lines were under consideration: the Nho–Hanoi Railway Station (the "pilot" line), the Nam Thang Long–Tran Hung Dao line, the Cat Linh–Ha Dong line, and the Yen Vien–Ngoc Hoi line. The Nho–Hanoi Railway Station, Cat Linh–Ha Dong and Yen Vien–Ngoc Hoi lines are currently in the research phase. Technical studies of the system were expected to be completed in 2009. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has confirmed that the Nam Thang Long–Tran Hung Dao line would begin construction in mid-2011, to be completed in 2014 for full operation by 2016.
stocks, signals and communication equipment, and maintenance facilities—has suffered severe deterioration, mainly due to damage inflicted during the Vietnam War and a subsequent lack of capital investment and maintenance. More recently, rehabilitation projects sustained by official development assistance
have allowed the most critical pieces of infrastructure along the line to be replaced, although much work still remains to be done.
, although standard gauge
and mixed gauge are used northeast of Hanoi. As of 2005, approximately 2600 km (1,615.6 mi) of track was in use throughout Vietnam:
metre gauge ; standard gauge ; and mixed gauge ( and ).
Besides active tracks, around 506 km (314.4 mi) of tracks are in use as siding, bringing the total to 3106 km (1,930 mi) of track laid nationwide.
or manual signals. These replace the token
method used in earlier years. According to a joint Japanese-Vietnamese evaluation team, the recent installation of additional auto-signal systems at key crossings along the line has contributed to a decline in railway accidents. Semaphore signals
were once used throughout the Vietnamese rail network, but these are gradually being replaced with colour light signals; most of the railway lines in northern Vietnam have been converted.
According to Vietnam Railways, automatic warning systems have been installed at 230 level crossings throughout the country.
technology has been used along the North–South Railway line to send television signals; 64 kbps transmission lines are leased from the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VPTC). Along some sections of the line—for example, from Hanoi to Vinh and from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City—a fiber optic cable network has been deployed; Vietnam Railways intends to extend the network along the remaining distance from Vinh to Nha Trang. A switching system featuring digital exchanges is in place, connected via the existing transmission system and the public telephone network. As the modernization of the telecommunication system progresses, manual exchanges are gradually being replaced with digital exchanges.
s caused by failure to decrease speed was also noted as a common cause of accidents.
The Vietnamese railway network is crossed by many roads in several crowded areas; as a result, accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians have occurred. In the first 10 months of 2009, 431 railway accidents reportedly took place throughout Vietnam, causing 166 casualties and injuring 319 people. A researcher from Villanova University
noted "There are numerous safety issues with level crossings... usually, an accident occurs every day." Many rail bridges and tunnels have suffered deterioration since the 1970s, requiring trains passing over or through them to reduce speeds as low as 15 kph. In addition, the center of the country is subject to violent annual flood
ing and bridge
s are often swept away, causing lengthy closures.
Along with recent efforts aimed at infrastructure rehabilitation, the recent adoption of safety measures by Vietnam Railways has led to a decline in railway accidents. These measures include: public awareness campaigns on railway safety in the media; construction of fences and safety barriers at critical level crossings in major cities; mobilization of volunteers for traffic control at train stations and level crossings, especially during holiday seasons; the installation of additional auto-signal systems; and the construction of flyovers
and underpass
es to redirect traffic.
(VNR), which operates a number of different subsidiaries involved in construction, communications, training, and other activities connected to railway maintenance. Following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the newly reunified Vietnamese railway network was centrally managed by the precursor of VNR, the government's Department of Railways. Initially, low rail tariffs and the poor state of infrastructure used in other modes of transport led to high usage, but revenue proved to be insufficient to cover the railway's operating costs. In 1986, the Government's implementation of Doi Moi economic reforms led to the deregulation of the transport sector and the shift towards a market-led economy, forcing the railways to change in order to maintain a competitive edge. The Department of Railways was reorganized into Vietnam Railways in 1989; since that time, railway reform has passed through a number of stages. Responsibility for rail infrastructure and operations were separated by government decree in 1994. The government of Germany began providing assistance with the restructuring of the railway sector in 2000, allowing VNR to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations, thus increasing its competitiveness. In 2003, VNR was re-organized as a state corporation, the Vietnam Railway Corporation, operating in railway transport and related services; railway administration and infrastructure management were given to the Vietnam Railway Administration, under the authority of the Ministry of Transport. A Railway Law was passed by the National Assembly on 19 May 2005; although regulations for the law's implementation have yet to be issued, it does provide a strong basis for further sector development; among other things, it proposed that foreign investors
be invited to invest in Vietnam Railways.
The railway system in Vietnam
is owned and operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways
. The principal route, the single track
North-South Railway running between Hanoi
and Ho Chi Minh City
, accounts for 1726 kilometres (1,072.5 mi) of the network's total length of 2600 kilometres (1,615.6 mi). The national railway network uses mainly metre gauge
, although there are several standard gauge
and mixed gauge lines in the North of the country.
running between the ports of Saigon
and Cholon, and a regional rail
line connecting Saigon with My Tho. Railway construction flourished soon afterwards, during the administration of Paul Doumer
as Governor-General of French Indochina
from 1897 to 1902. It was during this time that construction of the Yunnan–Vietnam and North–South railways began. Construction of the North-South line took over thirty years, finally beginning operation in 1936, during which time other branch lines were also completed. Beginning in World War II
, the entire rail network became a target of bombing attacks by a number of groups, including both North Vietnam
ese and South Vietnam
ese troops during the Vietnam War
. Although the main lines—particularly the North–South line—were quickly restored and returned to service once conflict ended, many branch lines were abandoned and dismantled at their expense, their infrastructure used to replace damaged sections of the main lines, or sold as scrap
.
With increased economic growth brought on by the Doi Moi reforms of the late 1980s, the railway system has entered a renewed phase of development. A number of major projects supported by official development assistance
have been proposed or are currently underway, including a series of projects to improve bridge and railway safety on the North-South Railway line, connections to Cambodia
and Laos
, and the restoration of a number of defunct lines, including the Đà Lạt–Tháp Chàm railway
first established in the 1930s. A high-speed rail link
between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City has also been proposed, which would reduce journey length from 30 hours to around 6 hours.
's 2010 Green Book
on Vietnam. According to reports by the Asian Development Bank
, however, the role of rail transport is growing, carving out a significant role for itself in long-distance bulk cargo transport.
The following table gives an overview of rail transport volume and traffic over the period from 1998–2008:
administration of Indochina
. The earliest rail project to be completed was the Saigon–Cholon tram
way, established in 1881 in what was then Cochinchina
, operated by the Cochinchina Steam Tramway Company (SGTVC). After a month of operation, the Lieutenant Governor of Cochinchina noted that ridership had already reached two thousand passengers. Construction of the first regional rail
project, linking Saigon
and My Tho, began in the same year, to be completed soon afterwards in 1885. The Saigon–My Tho line reduced travel time between the two cities from 12 hours to only 3 hours, and established a connection between Saigon and the shipping lanes of the Mekong Delta
. The first railway in Tonkin
, a gauge line connecting Lang Son
to Phu Lang Thuong (now known as Bac Giang
), was established in 1895.
Railway construction multiplied during the administration of Paul Doumer
as Governor-General of French Indochina
from 1897 to 1902. Doumer's predecessor, Jean Marie de Lanessan
, had been convinced of the necessity of building railways to connect the different parts of Indochina, and had identified certain key routes that should be built as a matter of priority; among these, a route connecting Hanoi
and Saigon, and another connecting Hanoi and Lao Cai
. In 1897, Doumer submitted an overarching proposal for railway development in Indochina, including plans for what would eventually become the Yunnan–Vietnam Railway and the North–South Railway
. The French government approved the construction of the entire Yunnan line and several sections of the North–South line, approving a loan of 200 million francs within the following year. Work began swiftly thereafter, with the Phu Lang Thuong—Lang Son line being upgraded and extended from Hanoi to the Chinese border at Dong Dang by 1902, and the first section of the Yunnan line between Hanoi
and Haiphong
opening in the same year.
The Hanoi–Haiphong railway was one leg of the Yunnan–Vietnam Railway, which had begun construction in 1900, and continued northward with the erection of Paul Doumer Bridge (now known as Long Bien Bridge
) in 1902, the largest bridge in Southeast Asia at that time. Construction on the Yunnan line continued northwestward towards the border town of Lao Cai, opening in segments beginning in 1903; the entire Hanoi–Lao Cai line was finally opened in 1906. Finally, in 1910, the line was extended to its final destination of Kunming
. Construction of the Yunnan line was an extremely difficult undertaking, incurring not only great expenditures but also a great loss of human life. At least 12,000 labourers died from malaria
or accidents, 10,000 of these in the Nam-ti Valley alone.
Construction of the North–South Railway began in 1899, and lasted over thirty years, with individual sections completed serially: from 1899 to 1905, the Hanoi–Vinh
section was laid down, followed by the Nha Trang–Saigon section from 1905 to 1913, then the Vinh–Huế
section from 1913 to 1927, and finally, the remaining Huế–Nha Trang
section from 1930 to 1936. On 2 October 1936, the entire 1726 km (1,072.5 mi) Hanoi–Saigon link was formally put into full operation. The first journeys from end to end of the newly completed line, dubbed the Transindochinois, generally took about 60 hours, or two days and three nights. This decreased to about 40 hours by the late 1930s, with trains travelling at an average speed of 43 kph.
From the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War
in 1937, the railway into Yunnan
served as a channel for arms shipments to the Chinese Kuomintang
. French refusal to halt shipments of arms and other war-related goods to China through Tonkin eventually provoked the Invasion of French Indochina by Japanese forces in 1940. The Japanese used the railway system extensively during their occupation, inviting sabotage by the Viet Minh
as well as airborne Allied bombing raids. The railways sustained considerable damage, including the destruction of bridges.
Shortly after World War II ended, the First Indochina War
began, and the Viet Minh's sabotage of the rail system continued, this time against the armies of the French Union
. The French returned several sections of the railway to full operation, allowing trains to circulate freely from Saigon to Ninh Hoa, Saigon to Loc Ninh
, Saigon to My Tho and Hue to Tourane (Da Nang) by the end of 1947. The sections lying between Nha Trang
and Tourane and north of Hue were judged to be too insecure to be returned to service at the time.
Early in the conflict, the Viet Minh's sabotage attempts failed to seriously damage the French railways, and most trains circulated without much protection. Beginning in 1947, however, the Viet Minh began to use mines, with circulation slowing to a crawl as they became more and more powerful. In response, the French began using the armed armoured train
La Rafale as both a cargo-carrier and a mobile surveillance unit. In February 1951 the first Rafale was in service on the Saigon-Nha Trang section of the North–South line, manned by the 2e Etranger (French Foreign Legion
). Use of the Rafale failed to deter the Viet Minh, however, who continued sabotaging the line, making off with its rails under cover of night and using them to create a new 300 kilometres (186.4 mi) rail network between Ninh Hoa and Da Nang, in a Viet Minh-controlled area. In 1954, following the signature of the Geneva Accords
and the end of the First Indochina War, Vietnam—along with its railway system—was divided along the Ben Hai River
in Quang Tri Province
.
Throughout the Vietnam War
, the Vietnamese railway network—especially the North–South Railway—was a target of bombardments and sabotage by both North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese forces. In the South, American aid allowed the South Vietnam
ese government to reconstruct the main line between Saigon and Hue, and several branch lines were also completed. As reconstruction efforts advanced, however, bombardments and sabotage of the railways by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese intensified, reducing the transportation capacity and effectiveness of the railway, and eventually forcing the abandonment of many large sections of the track. In 1964, Typhoons Joan and Iris, the worst to strike Vietnam in sixty-five years, damaged the railway system even further, restricting operations to five separated segments. A second reconstruction effort, assisted again by the U.S. government, began in December 1966, and progressed in those areas where security was re-established. The system reopened 340 kilometers of main line in areas where security was restored.
In North Vietnam, American bombing of railways was concentrated on key targets such as bridges, both along the North–South Railway and along the lines north of Hanoi, such as the Hanoi–Lao Cai and Hanoi–Dong Dang lines. At several points during the war, American bombing severely hindered transport along both lines, on which the North Vietnamese depended for shipments from their Chinese allies. Operation Rolling Thunder
was the first large-scale bombing campaign carried out by the U.S. Air Force, taking place from March 2, 1965 until November 1, 1968, when US President
Lyndon B. Johnson
temporarily called off air raids. Large-scale air raids resumed from May 9 to October 23, 1972, for Operation Linebacker
, and again from December 18–29, 1972, for Operation Linebacker II
, with fewer target restrictions than Rolling Thunder.
Railway engineering troops from the People's Republic of China
, deployed in late June 1965, were tasked with repairing the damage caused by the bombing. By late December of that year, reconstruction was complete on 363 kilometers of both the Hanoi–Lao Cai and Hanoi–Dong Dang lines, significantly increasing shipping capacity. A third rail was added to the existing lines, using standard gauge
spacing, effectively converting them to mixed gauge lines. This allowed Chinese trains to connect directly with the Vietnamese railway network, without the need for a break-of-gauge. Many new stations, bridges and tunnels were also built, and an entirely new rail line, the Thai Nguyen–Kep line, was built as a strategic connection between the Hanoi–Dong Dang and Hanoi–Thai Nguyen lines.
A particularly difficult target for U.S. Air Force bombers was the Thanh Hoa Bridge
, a well-defended combined road/rail bridge along the main line in Thanh Hoa Province. The bridge was attacked several times from 1965 to 1972. Several times, traffic over the bridge was interrupted, but every time, the North Vietnamese were able to repair the damage. The bridge was eventually destroyed by laser-guided smart bomb
s during separate raids on April 27 and May 13, 1972, as part of Operation Linebacker.
After the Fall of Saigon
on 30 April 1975, the Communist government of the newly unified Vietnam took control of the former South Vietnamese railway. The heavily damaged, war-torn North–South line was restored and returned to service on 31 December 1976, promoted as a symbol of Vietnamese unity. In the short time between the surrender of the South and the reopening of the line, 1334 bridges, 27 tunnels, 158 stations and 1370 switches had been repaired. Other railway lines that once existed, such as the Da Lat-Thap Cham
line, were dismantled during this period to provide materials for the repair of the main line. The outbreak of the Sino–Vietnamese War in 1979 resulted in the closing of borders, including railways; particularly, the railway bridge that connected Lao Cai and Hekou on the Yunnan–Vietnam line was destroyed by sabotage during the conflict. Rail traffic between the two countries would eventually resume in 1992.
The Vietnamese railway network has a total length of 2600 kilometres (1,615.6 mi), dominated by the North-South line running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City; as of 2007, 85% of the network's passenger volume and 60% of its cargo volume was transported along this line. There were 278 stations on the Vietnamese railway network as of 2005, 191 of which were located along the North-South line.
Several railway lines have been proposed for construction in Vietnam in recent years. The largest such project is the high-speed
North-South Express Railway
connecting Ha Noi
and Ho Chi Minh City
, (see High-speed rail, below) valued at approximately US$
56 billion. Due to its cost, plans for the line are currently on hold pending further study of the project. Other projects involve the restoration of previously existing lines, such as the Da Lat–Tháp Chàm and Ho Chi Minh City–Loc Ninh lines, both of which were originally built in the 1930s, but fell into disuse after decades of war. The proposed Ho Chi Minh City–Loc Ninh and Mu Gia–Vung Ang lines (both of which had either existed or been considered before World War II) would establish Vietnam's first international railway links to Cambodia
and Laos
, respectively.
The railway link from Haiphong
to the Chinese
city of Kunming
was originally built by the French
administration of Indochina
in the early 20th century. The section within Vietnam
is 389 km long (237 km between Hanoi and the border at Lao Cai
). The railway used gauge due to the mountainous terrain along the route. Currently, the line is the only main line in China using metre gauge
, (or dual gauge
, since it can also be converted
to standard gauge
). Railway service along the Chinese portion of the route is currently suspended. Cross-border service was available until 2002, when floods and landslides, which frequently caused delays along the route, caused serious damage to the tracks on the Chinese side. The railway will form the Chinese part of the Singapore-Kunming Rail Link, which is expected to be completed in 2015.
Railway access to Nanning
is done through the border at Dong Dang, in Lang Son Province
. Regular service generally entails stopping at the border, changing from a Vietnamese metre-gauge train to a Chinese standard-gauge train, and continuing on to Nanning. Since 2009, a daily overnight service is available; the train departs from Hanoi's Gia Lam Railway Station
, and runs on standard-gauge tracks all the way to Nanning.
Cambodia
There is currently no railway connection between Vietnam and Cambodia. The French
administration of Indochina
originally built a railway from Saigon to Loc Ninh
in the 1930s, with the intent of extending it further into Cambodia. It was abandoned in 1945, at the start of the First Indochina War
. A new line connecting Ho Chi Minh City
to Phnom Penh
, Cambodia, was proposed as part of the Singapore–Kunming Rail Link project, overseen by the ASEAN–Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (AMBDC). The 129 km (80.2 mi) Vietnamese portion of the line would begin with a junction of the North-South Railway
at Di An Railway Station
, and would end in Lộc Ninh
, Binh Phuoc Province
, close to the Cambodian border. According to the plan established by ASEAN, this stretch is scheduled for completion by 2020.
Laos
There is currently no railway connection between Vietnam and Laos. In 2007, the Laotian Ministry of Transportation entered into discussion with Vietnam to discuss the possibility of opening a new railway line from Thakhek
in Laos
through the Mu Gia Pass
to Tan Ap Railway Station
in Quang Binh Province
, connecting to the national railway at Vung Ang, a port in Ha Tinh Province which the Vietnamese Government plans to expand. This would revive, in part, an earlier but aborted scheme, the Thakhek - Tan Ap railway. According to plans established by ASEAN, the line may be extended via Thakhek all the way to the Laotian capital Vientiane
. Both Laos and Thailand have expressed interest in the project as a shorter export gateway to the Pacific Ocean.
National railway company Vietnam Railways
has proposed a high-speed rail
link between Hanoi
and Ho Chi Minh City
, capable of running at speeds of 300 km/h (186 mph). Funding for the line would come mainly from the Vietnamese government, with Japanese aid in the form of official development assistance
(ODA). Current technology allows trains travelling on the current, single-track Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City line
to complete the journey in approximately thirty hours. Once completed, the high-speed rail line—using Japanese Shinkansen
technology—would allow trains to complete the Hanoi–Ho Chi Minh City journey in less than six hours.
Vietnamese prime minister
Nguyen Tan Dung had originally set an ambitious target, approving a 1630 km (1,012.8 mi) line to be completed by 2013, with 70 percent of funding (initially estimated at US$
33 billion) coming from Japanese ODA, and the remaining 30 percent raised through loans. Later reports raised estimated costs to US$56 billion (almost 60 percent of Vietnam's GDP
in 2009) for a completion date in the mid-2030s. On June 19, 2010, after a month of deliberation, Vietnam's National Assembly rejected the high speed rail proposal due to its high cost; National Assembly deputies had asked for further study of the project.
network to serve Ho Chi Minh City
was first proposed in 2001 as part of a comprehensive public transport network plan including Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring provinces. The project is managed by the city's Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), a government unit working directly under the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. The city’s plan envisages developing three monorail
or light rail
lines with a total length of 37 kilometres (23 mi) and six underground metro
routes with a total length of 107 kilometres (66.5 mi). The network's first line, connecting Bến Thành Market
and Suoi Tien Park
in District 9
, is scheduled for completion in 2015, and a second line between Bến Thành Market
and Tham Luong in District 12
is due to begin construction in August 2010, scheduled for completion in 2016. Other proposed lines include: a Bến Thành Market
–Binh Tan line via Cholon
; a line running from Lang Cha Ca in Tan Binh district to Van Thanh Park in Binh Thanh district; a line connecting Thu Thiem
in District 2
with Can Giuoc in District 8
; and a line stretching from Ba Queo in Tan Binh district to Phu Lam in District 6
.
Nguyễn Tấn Dũng approved an overall transport development plan for Hanoi, which, among other projects, proposed a rapid transit
system with five routes. The project is being carried out by the Hanoi Metropolitan Rail Transport Project Board (HRB). As of spring 2009, projects for four lines were under consideration: the Nho–Hanoi Railway Station (the "pilot" line), the Nam Thang Long–Tran Hung Dao line, the Cat Linh–Ha Dong line, and the Yen Vien–Ngoc Hoi line. The Nho–Hanoi Railway Station, Cat Linh–Ha Dong and Yen Vien–Ngoc Hoi lines are currently in the research phase. Technical studies of the system were expected to be completed in 2009. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has confirmed that the Nam Thang Long–Tran Hung Dao line would begin construction in mid-2011, to be completed in 2014 for full operation by 2016.
stocks, signals and communication equipment, and maintenance facilities—has suffered severe deterioration, mainly due to damage inflicted during the Vietnam War and a subsequent lack of capital investment and maintenance. More recently, rehabilitation projects sustained by official development assistance
have allowed the most critical pieces of infrastructure along the line to be replaced, although much work still remains to be done.
, although standard gauge
and mixed gauge are used northeast of Hanoi. As of 2005, approximately 2600 km (1,615.6 mi) of track was in use throughout Vietnam:
metre gauge ; standard gauge ; and mixed gauge ( and ).
Besides active tracks, around 506 km (314.4 mi) of tracks are in use as siding, bringing the total to 3106 km (1,930 mi) of track laid nationwide.
or manual signals. These replace the token
method used in earlier years. According to a joint Japanese-Vietnamese evaluation team, the recent installation of additional auto-signal systems at key crossings along the line has contributed to a decline in railway accidents. Semaphore signals
were once used throughout the Vietnamese rail network, but these are gradually being replaced with colour light signals; most of the railway lines in northern Vietnam have been converted.
According to Vietnam Railways, automatic warning systems have been installed at 230 level crossings throughout the country.
technology has been used along the North–South Railway line to send television signals; 64 kbps transmission lines are leased from the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VPTC). Along some sections of the line—for example, from Hanoi to Vinh and from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City—a fiber optic cable network has been deployed; Vietnam Railways intends to extend the network along the remaining distance from Vinh to Nha Trang. A switching system featuring digital exchanges is in place, connected via the existing transmission system and the public telephone network. As the modernization of the telecommunication system progresses, manual exchanges are gradually being replaced with digital exchanges.
s caused by failure to decrease speed was also noted as a common cause of accidents.
The Vietnamese railway network is crossed by many roads in several crowded areas; as a result, accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians have occurred. In the first 10 months of 2009, 431 railway accidents reportedly took place throughout Vietnam, causing 166 casualties and injuring 319 people. A researcher from Villanova University
noted "There are numerous safety issues with level crossings... usually, an accident occurs every day." Many rail bridges and tunnels have suffered deterioration since the 1970s, requiring trains passing over or through them to reduce speeds as low as 15 kph. In addition, the center of the country is subject to violent annual flood
ing and bridge
s are often swept away, causing lengthy closures.
Along with recent efforts aimed at infrastructure rehabilitation, the recent adoption of safety measures by Vietnam Railways has led to a decline in railway accidents. These measures include: public awareness campaigns on railway safety in the media; construction of fences and safety barriers at critical level crossings in major cities; mobilization of volunteers for traffic control at train stations and level crossings, especially during holiday seasons; the installation of additional auto-signal systems; and the construction of flyovers
and underpass
es to redirect traffic.
The Vietnamese railway network is owned and operated by the state-owned enterprise Vietnam Railways
(VNR), which operates a number of different subsidiaries involved in construction, communications, training, and other activities connected to railway maintenance. Following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the newly reunified Vietnamese railway network was centrally managed by the precursor of VNR, the government's Department of Railways. Initially, low rail tariffs and the poor state of infrastructure used in other modes of transport led to high usage, but revenue proved to be insufficient to cover the railway's operating costs. In 1986, the Government's implementation of Doi Moi economic reforms led to the deregulation of the transport sector and the shift towards a market-led economy, forcing the railways to change in order to maintain a competitive edge. The Department of Railways was reorganized into Vietnam Railways in 1989; since that time, railway reform has passed through a number of stages. Responsibility for rail infrastructure and operations were separated by government decree in 1994. The government of Germany began providing assistance with the restructuring of the railway sector in 2000, allowing VNR to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations, thus increasing its competitiveness. In 2003, VNR was re-organized as a state corporation, the Vietnam Railway Corporation, operating in railway transport and related services; railway administration and infrastructure management were given to the Vietnam Railway Administration, under the authority of the Ministry of Transport. A Railway Law was passed by the National Assembly on 19 May 2005; although regulations for the law's implementation have yet to be issued, it does provide a strong basis for further sector development; among other things, it proposed that foreign investors
be invited to invest in Vietnam Railways.
The railway system in Vietnam
is owned and operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways
. The principal route, the single track
North-South Railway running between Hanoi
and Ho Chi Minh City
, accounts for 1726 kilometres (1,072.5 mi) of the network's total length of 2600 kilometres (1,615.6 mi). The national railway network uses mainly metre gauge
, although there are several standard gauge
and mixed gauge lines in the North of the country.
running between the ports of Saigon
and Cholon, and a regional rail
line connecting Saigon with My Tho. Railway construction flourished soon afterwards, during the administration of Paul Doumer
as Governor-General of French Indochina
from 1897 to 1902. It was during this time that construction of the Yunnan–Vietnam and North–South railways began. Construction of the North-South line took over thirty years, finally beginning operation in 1936, during which time other branch lines were also completed. Beginning in World War II
, the entire rail network became a target of bombing attacks by a number of groups, including both North Vietnam
ese and South Vietnam
ese troops during the Vietnam War
. Although the main lines—particularly the North–South line—were quickly restored and returned to service once conflict ended, many branch lines were abandoned and dismantled at their expense, their infrastructure used to replace damaged sections of the main lines, or sold as scrap
.
With increased economic growth brought on by the Doi Moi reforms of the late 1980s, the railway system has entered a renewed phase of development. A number of major projects supported by official development assistance
have been proposed or are currently underway, including a series of projects to improve bridge and railway safety on the North-South Railway line, connections to Cambodia
and Laos
, and the restoration of a number of defunct lines, including the Đà Lạt–Tháp Chàm railway
first established in the 1930s. A high-speed rail link
between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City has also been proposed, which would reduce journey length from 30 hours to around 6 hours.
's 2010 Green Book
on Vietnam. According to reports by the Asian Development Bank
, however, the role of rail transport is growing, carving out a significant role for itself in long-distance bulk cargo transport.
The following table gives an overview of rail transport volume and traffic over the period from 1998–2008:
administration of Indochina
. The earliest rail project to be completed was the Saigon–Cholon tram
way, established in 1881 in what was then Cochinchina
, operated by the Cochinchina Steam Tramway Company (SGTVC). After a month of operation, the Lieutenant Governor of Cochinchina noted that ridership had already reached two thousand passengers. Construction of the first regional rail
project, linking Saigon
and My Tho, began in the same year, to be completed soon afterwards in 1885. The Saigon–My Tho line reduced travel time between the two cities from 12 hours to only 3 hours, and established a connection between Saigon and the shipping lanes of the Mekong Delta
. The first railway in Tonkin
, a gauge line connecting Lang Son
to Phu Lang Thuong (now known as Bac Giang
), was established in 1895.
Railway construction multiplied during the administration of Paul Doumer
as Governor-General of French Indochina
from 1897 to 1902. Doumer's predecessor, Jean Marie de Lanessan
, had been convinced of the necessity of building railways to connect the different parts of Indochina, and had identified certain key routes that should be built as a matter of priority; among these, a route connecting Hanoi
and Saigon, and another connecting Hanoi and Lao Cai
. In 1897, Doumer submitted an overarching proposal for railway development in Indochina, including plans for what would eventually become the Yunnan–Vietnam Railway and the North–South Railway
. The French government approved the construction of the entire Yunnan line and several sections of the North–South line, approving a loan of 200 million francs within the following year. Work began swiftly thereafter, with the Phu Lang Thuong—Lang Son line being upgraded and extended from Hanoi to the Chinese border at Dong Dang by 1902, and the first section of the Yunnan line between Hanoi
and Haiphong
opening in the same year.
The Hanoi–Haiphong railway was one leg of the Yunnan–Vietnam Railway, which had begun construction in 1900, and continued northward with the erection of Paul Doumer Bridge (now known as Long Bien Bridge
) in 1902, the largest bridge in Southeast Asia at that time. Construction on the Yunnan line continued northwestward towards the border town of Lao Cai, opening in segments beginning in 1903; the entire Hanoi–Lao Cai line was finally opened in 1906. Finally, in 1910, the line was extended to its final destination of Kunming
. Construction of the Yunnan line was an extremely difficult undertaking, incurring not only great expenditures but also a great loss of human life. At least 12,000 labourers died from malaria
or accidents, 10,000 of these in the Nam-ti Valley alone.
Construction of the North–South Railway began in 1899, and lasted over thirty years, with individual sections completed serially: from 1899 to 1905, the Hanoi–Vinh
section was laid down, followed by the Nha Trang–Saigon section from 1905 to 1913, then the Vinh–Huế
section from 1913 to 1927, and finally, the remaining Huế–Nha Trang
section from 1930 to 1936. On 2 October 1936, the entire 1726 km (1,072.5 mi) Hanoi–Saigon link was formally put into full operation. The first journeys from end to end of the newly completed line, dubbed the Transindochinois, generally took about 60 hours, or two days and three nights. This decreased to about 40 hours by the late 1930s, with trains travelling at an average speed of 43 kph.
From the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War
in 1937, the railway into Yunnan
served as a channel for arms shipments to the Chinese Kuomintang
. French refusal to halt shipments of arms and other war-related goods to China through Tonkin eventually provoked the Invasion of French Indochina by Japanese forces in 1940. The Japanese used the railway system extensively during their occupation, inviting sabotage by the Viet Minh
as well as airborne Allied bombing raids. The railways sustained considerable damage, including the destruction of bridges.
Shortly after World War II ended, the First Indochina War
began, and the Viet Minh's sabotage of the rail system continued, this time against the armies of the French Union
. The French returned several sections of the railway to full operation, allowing trains to circulate freely from Saigon to Ninh Hoa, Saigon to Loc Ninh
, Saigon to My Tho and Hue to Tourane (Da Nang) by the end of 1947. The sections lying between Nha Trang
and Tourane and north of Hue were judged to be too insecure to be returned to service at the time.
Early in the conflict, the Viet Minh's sabotage attempts failed to seriously damage the French railways, and most trains circulated without much protection. Beginning in 1947, however, the Viet Minh began to use mines, with circulation slowing to a crawl as they became more and more powerful. In response, the French began using the armed armoured train
La Rafale as both a cargo-carrier and a mobile surveillance unit. In February 1951 the first Rafale was in service on the Saigon-Nha Trang section of the North–South line, manned by the 2e Etranger (French Foreign Legion
). Use of the Rafale failed to deter the Viet Minh, however, who continued sabotaging the line, making off with its rails under cover of night and using them to create a new 300 kilometres (186.4 mi) rail network between Ninh Hoa and Da Nang, in a Viet Minh-controlled area. In 1954, following the signature of the Geneva Accords
and the end of the First Indochina War, Vietnam—along with its railway system—was divided along the Ben Hai River
in Quang Tri Province
.
Throughout the Vietnam War
, the Vietnamese railway network—especially the North–South Railway—was a target of bombardments and sabotage by both North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese forces. In the South, American aid allowed the South Vietnam
ese government to reconstruct the main line between Saigon and Hue, and several branch lines were also completed. As reconstruction efforts advanced, however, bombardments and sabotage of the railways by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese intensified, reducing the transportation capacity and effectiveness of the railway, and eventually forcing the abandonment of many large sections of the track. In 1964, Typhoons Joan and Iris, the worst to strike Vietnam in sixty-five years, damaged the railway system even further, restricting operations to five separated segments. A second reconstruction effort, assisted again by the U.S. government, began in December 1966, and progressed in those areas where security was re-established. The system reopened 340 kilometers of main line in areas where security was restored.
In North Vietnam, American bombing of railways was concentrated on key targets such as bridges, both along the North–South Railway and along the lines north of Hanoi, such as the Hanoi–Lao Cai and Hanoi–Dong Dang lines. At several points during the war, American bombing severely hindered transport along both lines, on which the North Vietnamese depended for shipments from their Chinese allies. Operation Rolling Thunder
was the first large-scale bombing campaign carried out by the U.S. Air Force, taking place from March 2, 1965 until November 1, 1968, when US President
Lyndon B. Johnson
temporarily called off air raids. Large-scale air raids resumed from May 9 to October 23, 1972, for Operation Linebacker
, and again from December 18–29, 1972, for Operation Linebacker II
, with fewer target restrictions than Rolling Thunder.
Railway engineering troops from the People's Republic of China
, deployed in late June 1965, were tasked with repairing the damage caused by the bombing. By late December of that year, reconstruction was complete on 363 kilometers of both the Hanoi–Lao Cai and Hanoi–Dong Dang lines, significantly increasing shipping capacity. A third rail was added to the existing lines, using standard gauge
spacing, effectively converting them to mixed gauge lines. This allowed Chinese trains to connect directly with the Vietnamese railway network, without the need for a break-of-gauge. Many new stations, bridges and tunnels were also built, and an entirely new rail line, the Thai Nguyen–Kep line, was built as a strategic connection between the Hanoi–Dong Dang and Hanoi–Thai Nguyen lines.
A particularly difficult target for U.S. Air Force bombers was the Thanh Hoa Bridge
, a well-defended combined road/rail bridge along the main line in Thanh Hoa Province. The bridge was attacked several times from 1965 to 1972. Several times, traffic over the bridge was interrupted, but every time, the North Vietnamese were able to repair the damage. The bridge was eventually destroyed by laser-guided smart bomb
s during separate raids on April 27 and May 13, 1972, as part of Operation Linebacker.
After the Fall of Saigon
on 30 April 1975, the Communist government of the newly unified Vietnam took control of the former South Vietnamese railway. The heavily damaged, war-torn North–South line was restored and returned to service on 31 December 1976, promoted as a symbol of Vietnamese unity. In the short time between the surrender of the South and the reopening of the line, 1334 bridges, 27 tunnels, 158 stations and 1370 switches had been repaired. Other railway lines that once existed, such as the Da Lat-Thap Cham
line, were dismantled during this period to provide materials for the repair of the main line. The outbreak of the Sino–Vietnamese War in 1979 resulted in the closing of borders, including railways; particularly, the railway bridge that connected Lao Cai and Hekou on the Yunnan–Vietnam line was destroyed by sabotage during the conflict. Rail traffic between the two countries would eventually resume in 1992.
The Vietnamese railway network has a total length of 2600 kilometres (1,615.6 mi), dominated by the North-South line running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City; as of 2007, 85% of the network's passenger volume and 60% of its cargo volume was transported along this line. There were 278 stations on the Vietnamese railway network as of 2005, 191 of which were located along the North-South line.
Several railway lines have been proposed for construction in Vietnam in recent years. The largest such project is the high-speed
North-South Express Railway
connecting Ha Noi
and Ho Chi Minh City
, (see High-speed rail, below) valued at approximately US$
56 billion. Due to its cost, plans for the line are currently on hold pending further study of the project. Other projects involve the restoration of previously existing lines, such as the Da Lat–Tháp Chàm and Ho Chi Minh City–Loc Ninh lines, both of which were originally built in the 1930s, but fell into disuse after decades of war. The proposed Ho Chi Minh City–Loc Ninh and Mu Gia–Vung Ang lines (both of which had either existed or been considered before World War II) would establish Vietnam's first international railway links to Cambodia
and Laos
, respectively.
The railway link from Haiphong
to the Chinese
city of Kunming
was originally built by the French
administration of Indochina
in the early 20th century. The section within Vietnam
is 389 km long (237 km between Hanoi and the border at Lao Cai
). The railway used gauge due to the mountainous terrain along the route. Currently, the line is the only main line in China using metre gauge
, (or dual gauge
, since it can also be converted
to standard gauge
). Railway service along the Chinese portion of the route is currently suspended. Cross-border service was available until 2002, when floods and landslides, which frequently caused delays along the route, caused serious damage to the tracks on the Chinese side. The railway will form the Chinese part of the Singapore-Kunming Rail Link, which is expected to be completed in 2015.
Railway access to Nanning
is done through the border at Dong Dang, in Lang Son Province
. Regular service generally entails stopping at the border, changing from a Vietnamese metre-gauge train to a Chinese standard-gauge train, and continuing on to Nanning. Since 2009, a daily overnight service is available; the train departs from Hanoi's Gia Lam Railway Station
, and runs on standard-gauge tracks all the way to Nanning.
Cambodia
There is currently no railway connection between Vietnam and Cambodia. The French
administration of Indochina
originally built a railway from Saigon to Loc Ninh
in the 1930s, with the intent of extending it further into Cambodia. It was abandoned in 1945, at the start of the First Indochina War
. A new line connecting Ho Chi Minh City
to Phnom Penh
, Cambodia, was proposed as part of the Singapore–Kunming Rail Link project, overseen by the ASEAN–Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (AMBDC). The 129 km (80.2 mi) Vietnamese portion of the line would begin with a junction of the North-South Railway
at Di An Railway Station
, and would end in Lộc Ninh
, Binh Phuoc Province
, close to the Cambodian border. According to the plan established by ASEAN, this stretch is scheduled for completion by 2020.
Laos
There is currently no railway connection between Vietnam and Laos. In 2007, the Laotian Ministry of Transportation entered into discussion with Vietnam to discuss the possibility of opening a new railway line from Thakhek
in Laos
through the Mu Gia Pass
to Tan Ap Railway Station
in Quang Binh Province
, connecting to the national railway at Vung Ang, a port in Ha Tinh Province which the Vietnamese Government plans to expand. This would revive, in part, an earlier but aborted scheme, the Thakhek - Tan Ap railway. According to plans established by ASEAN, the line may be extended via Thakhek all the way to the Laotian capital Vientiane
. Both Laos and Thailand have expressed interest in the project as a shorter export gateway to the Pacific Ocean.
National railway company Vietnam Railways
has proposed a high-speed rail
link between Hanoi
and Ho Chi Minh City
, capable of running at speeds of 300 km/h (186 mph). Funding for the line would come mainly from the Vietnamese government, with Japanese aid in the form of official development assistance
(ODA). Current technology allows trains travelling on the current, single-track Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City line
to complete the journey in approximately thirty hours. Once completed, the high-speed rail line—using Japanese Shinkansen
technology—would allow trains to complete the Hanoi–Ho Chi Minh City journey in less than six hours.
Vietnamese prime minister
Nguyen Tan Dung had originally set an ambitious target, approving a 1630 km (1,012.8 mi) line to be completed by 2013, with 70 percent of funding (initially estimated at US$
33 billion) coming from Japanese ODA, and the remaining 30 percent raised through loans. Later reports raised estimated costs to US$56 billion (almost 60 percent of Vietnam's GDP
in 2009) for a completion date in the mid-2030s. On June 19, 2010, after a month of deliberation, Vietnam's National Assembly rejected the high speed rail proposal due to its high cost; National Assembly deputies had asked for further study of the project.
network to serve Ho Chi Minh City
was first proposed in 2001 as part of a comprehensive public transport network plan including Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring provinces. The project is managed by the city's Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), a government unit working directly under the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. The city’s plan envisages developing three monorail
or light rail
lines with a total length of 37 kilometres (23 mi) and six underground metro
routes with a total length of 107 kilometres (66.5 mi). The network's first line, connecting Bến Thành Market
and Suoi Tien Park
in District 9
, is scheduled for completion in 2015, and a second line between Bến Thành Market
and Tham Luong in District 12
is due to begin construction in August 2010, scheduled for completion in 2016. Other proposed lines include: a Bến Thành Market
–Binh Tan line via Cholon
; a line running from Lang Cha Ca in Tan Binh district to Van Thanh Park in Binh Thanh district; a line connecting Thu Thiem
in District 2
with Can Giuoc in District 8
; and a line stretching from Ba Queo in Tan Binh district to Phu Lam in District 6
.
Nguyễn Tấn Dũng approved an overall transport development plan for Hanoi, which, among other projects, proposed a rapid transit
system with five routes. The project is being carried out by the Hanoi Metropolitan Rail Transport Project Board (HRB). As of spring 2009, projects for four lines were under consideration: the Nho–Hanoi Railway Station (the "pilot" line), the Nam Thang Long–Tran Hung Dao line, the Cat Linh–Ha Dong line, and the Yen Vien–Ngoc Hoi line. The Nho–Hanoi Railway Station, Cat Linh–Ha Dong and Yen Vien–Ngoc Hoi lines are currently in the research phase. Technical studies of the system were expected to be completed in 2009. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has confirmed that the Nam Thang Long–Tran Hung Dao line would begin construction in mid-2011, to be completed in 2014 for full operation by 2016.
stocks, signals and communication equipment, and maintenance facilities—has suffered severe deterioration, mainly due to damage inflicted during the Vietnam War and a subsequent lack of capital investment and maintenance. More recently, rehabilitation projects sustained by official development assistance
have allowed the most critical pieces of infrastructure along the line to be replaced, although much work still remains to be done.
, although standard gauge
and mixed gauge are used northeast of Hanoi. As of 2005, approximately 2600 km (1,615.6 mi) of track was in use throughout Vietnam:
metre gauge ; standard gauge ; and mixed gauge ( and ).
Besides active tracks, around 506 km (314.4 mi) of tracks are in use as siding, bringing the total to 3106 km (1,930 mi) of track laid nationwide.
or manual signals. These replace the token
method used in earlier years. According to a joint Japanese-Vietnamese evaluation team, the recent installation of additional auto-signal systems at key crossings along the line has contributed to a decline in railway accidents. Semaphore signals
were once used throughout the Vietnamese rail network, but these are gradually being replaced with colour light signals; most of the railway lines in northern Vietnam have been converted.
According to Vietnam Railways, automatic warning systems have been installed at 230 level crossings throughout the country.
technology has been used along the North–South Railway line to send television signals; 64 kbps transmission lines are leased from the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VPTC). Along some sections of the line—for example, from Hanoi to Vinh and from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City—a fiber optic cable network has been deployed; Vietnam Railways intends to extend the network along the remaining distance from Vinh to Nha Trang. A switching system featuring digital exchanges is in place, connected via the existing transmission system and the public telephone network. As the modernization of the telecommunication system progresses, manual exchanges are gradually being replaced with digital exchanges.
s caused by failure to decrease speed was also noted as a common cause of accidents.
The Vietnamese railway network is crossed by many roads in several crowded areas; as a result, accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians have occurred. In the first 10 months of 2009, 431 railway accidents reportedly took place throughout Vietnam, causing 166 casualties and injuring 319 people. A researcher from Villanova University
noted "There are numerous safety issues with level crossings... usually, an accident occurs every day." Many rail bridges and tunnels have suffered deterioration since the 1970s, requiring trains passing over or through them to reduce speeds as low as 15 kph. In addition, the center of the country is subject to violent annual flood
ing and bridge
s are often swept away, causing lengthy closures.
Along with recent efforts aimed at infrastructure rehabilitation, the recent adoption of safety measures by Vietnam Railways has led to a decline in railway accidents. These measures include: public awareness campaigns on railway safety in the media; construction of fences and safety barriers at critical level crossings in major cities; mobilization of volunteers for traffic control at train stations and level crossings, especially during holiday seasons; the installation of additional auto-signal systems; and the construction of flyovers
and underpass
es to redirect traffic.
The Vietnamese railway network is owned and operated by the state-owned enterprise Vietnam Railways
(VNR), which operates a number of different subsidiaries involved in construction, communications, training, and other activities connected to railway maintenance. Following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the newly reunified Vietnamese railway network was centrally managed by the precursor of VNR, the government's Department of Railways. Initially, low rail tariffs and the poor state of infrastructure used in other modes of transport led to high usage, but revenue proved to be insufficient to cover the railway's operating costs. In 1986, the Government's implementation of Doi Moi economic reforms led to the deregulation of the transport sector and the shift towards a market-led economy, forcing the railways to change in order to maintain a competitive edge. The Department of Railways was reorganized into Vietnam Railways in 1989; since that time, railway reform has passed through a number of stages. Responsibility for rail infrastructure and operations were separated by government decree in 1994. The government of Germany began providing assistance with the restructuring of the railway sector in 2000, allowing VNR to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations, thus increasing its competitiveness. In 2003, VNR was re-organized as a state corporation, the Vietnam Railway Corporation, operating in railway transport and related services; railway administration and infrastructure management were given to the Vietnam Railway Administration, under the authority of the Ministry of Transport. A Railway Law was passed by the National Assembly on 19 May 2005; although regulations for the law's implementation have yet to be issued, it does provide a strong basis for further sector development; among other things, it proposed that foreign investors
be invited to invest in Vietnam Railways.
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
is owned and operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways
Vietnam Railways
The railway system in Vietnam is operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways . The principal route is the thousand-mile single track North-South Railway line, running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This was built at the metre gauge in the 1880s during the French colonial rule...
. The principal route, the single track
Single track (rail)
A single track railway is where trains in both directions share the same track. Single track is normally used on lesser used rail lines, often branch lines, where the traffic density is not high enough to justify the cost of building double tracks....
North-South Railway running between Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
, accounts for 1726 kilometres (1,072.5 mi) of the network's total length of 2600 kilometres (1,615.6 mi). The national railway network uses mainly metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
, although there are several standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
and mixed gauge lines in the North of the country.
Summary
The first railways in Vietnam were established in the 1880s; these included a tramTram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
running between the ports of Saigon
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
and Cholon, and a regional rail
Regional rail
Commuter rail, also called suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates between a city center, and the middle to outer suburbs beyond 15km and commuter towns or other locations that draw large numbers of commuters—people who travel on a daily basis...
line connecting Saigon with My Tho. Railway construction flourished soon afterwards, during the administration of Paul Doumer
Paul Doumer
Joseph Athanase Paul Doumer, commonly known as Paul Doumer was the President of France from 13 June 1931 until his assassination.-Biography:...
as Governor-General of French Indochina
Governor-General of French Indochina
-External links:*...
from 1897 to 1902. It was during this time that construction of the Yunnan–Vietnam and North–South railways began. Construction of the North-South line took over thirty years, finally beginning operation in 1936, during which time other branch lines were also completed. Beginning in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the entire rail network became a target of bombing attacks by a number of groups, including both North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
ese and South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
ese troops during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Although the main lines—particularly the North–South line—were quickly restored and returned to service once conflict ended, many branch lines were abandoned and dismantled at their expense, their infrastructure used to replace damaged sections of the main lines, or sold as scrap
Scrap Metal
Scrap Metal were a band from Broome, Western Australia who played rock music with elements of country and reggae. The members had Aboriginal, Irish, Filipino, French, Chinese, Scottish, Indonesian and Japanese heritage. The band toured nationally as part of the Bran Nue Dae musical and with...
.
With increased economic growth brought on by the Doi Moi reforms of the late 1980s, the railway system has entered a renewed phase of development. A number of major projects supported by official development assistance
Official development assistance
Official development assistance is a term compiled by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to measure aid. The DAC first compiled the term in 1969. It is widely used by academics and journalists as a convenient indicator of...
have been proposed or are currently underway, including a series of projects to improve bridge and railway safety on the North-South Railway line, connections to Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, and the restoration of a number of defunct lines, including the Đà Lạt–Tháp Chàm railway
Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway
The Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway or Da Lat-Phan Rang Railway was an rack railway connecting the city of Da Lat to the main North-South Railway at Thap Cham in Ninh Thuan Province. It was established by the French administration of Indochina in 1932 after thirty years of construction in phases,...
first established in the 1930s. A high-speed rail link
North-South Express Railway (Vietnam)
North-South Express Railway is a proposed express railway in Vietnam. The line would begin in Hanoi, crossing provinces and municipalities of Hà Nội, Hà Tây, Hà Nam, Ninh Bình, Thanh Hoá, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Đà Nẵng, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên,...
between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City has also been proposed, which would reduce journey length from 30 hours to around 6 hours.
Usage
Rail transport remains relatively underused as a mode of transport in Vietnam. While road transport dominates the transport sector by far—accounting for 65% of freight moved as of 2006—rail transport accounted for only 4% of freight transportation in 2008, and 5% of passenger transportation, leading it to be considered the "least relevant" of all modes of transport in the European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
's 2010 Green Book
Green paper
In the Commonwealth, the Republic of Ireland and the United States a green paper is a tentative government report of a proposal without any commitment to action; the first step in changing the law...
on Vietnam. According to reports by the Asian Development Bank
Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 22 August 1966 to facilitate economic development of countries in Asia...
, however, the role of rail transport is growing, carving out a significant role for itself in long-distance bulk cargo transport.
The following table gives an overview of rail transport volume and traffic over the period from 1998–2008:
| Transport type | 1998 | 2000 | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freight volume (kt) | 4977.6 | 6258.2 | 7051.9 | 8873.6 | 9153.2 | 8481.1 |
| Freight traffic (Mt-km) | 1369.0 | 1955.0 | 2391.5 | 2745.3 | 3446.6 | 4170.9 |
| Passenger volume (Mpeople) | 9.7 | 9.8 | 10.8 | 12.9 | 11.6 | 11.3 |
| Passenger traffic (Mpeople-km) | 2542.3 | 3199.9 | 3697.2 | 4376.3 | 4333.7 | 4560.4 |
Colonial beginnings
Rail transport was introduced to Vietnam in the 1880s, supported by the FrenchFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
administration of Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
. The earliest rail project to be completed was the Saigon–Cholon tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
way, established in 1881 in what was then Cochinchina
Cochinchina
Cochinchina is a region encompassing the southern third of Vietnam whose principal city is Saigon. It was a French colony from 1862 to 1954. The later state of South Vietnam was created in 1954 by combining Cochinchina with southern Annam. In Vietnamese, the region is called Nam Bộ...
, operated by the Cochinchina Steam Tramway Company (SGTVC). After a month of operation, the Lieutenant Governor of Cochinchina noted that ridership had already reached two thousand passengers. Construction of the first regional rail
Regional rail
Commuter rail, also called suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates between a city center, and the middle to outer suburbs beyond 15km and commuter towns or other locations that draw large numbers of commuters—people who travel on a daily basis...
project, linking Saigon
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
and My Tho, began in the same year, to be completed soon afterwards in 1885. The Saigon–My Tho line reduced travel time between the two cities from 12 hours to only 3 hours, and established a connection between Saigon and the shipping lanes of the Mekong Delta
Mekong Delta
The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of . The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.The...
. The first railway in Tonkin
Tonkin
Tonkin , also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is the northernmost part of Vietnam, south of China's Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces, east of northern Laos, and west of the Gulf of Tonkin. Locally, it is known as Bắc Kỳ, meaning "Northern Region"...
, a gauge line connecting Lang Son
Lang Son
Lạng Sơn , sometimes Langson, is a city in far northern Vietnam, is the capital of Lang Son province. It is accessible by road and rail from Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, and it is the northernmost point on National Road 1A.-History:...
to Phu Lang Thuong (now known as Bac Giang
Bac Giang
Bắc Giang is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of the Bac Giang province. Its name, deriving from Sino-Vietnamese, means "north of the river." Bac Giang was formerly a sister city with Madison, Wisconsin, United States....
), was established in 1895.
Railway construction multiplied during the administration of Paul Doumer
Paul Doumer
Joseph Athanase Paul Doumer, commonly known as Paul Doumer was the President of France from 13 June 1931 until his assassination.-Biography:...
as Governor-General of French Indochina
Governor-General of French Indochina
-External links:*...
from 1897 to 1902. Doumer's predecessor, Jean Marie de Lanessan
Jean Marie Antoine de Lanessan
Jean Marie Antoine de Lanessan was a French statesman and naturalist.-Biography:De Lanessan was born in Saint-André-de-Cubzac in the Gironde department of France and entered the French Navy in 1862, serving on the East African and Cochin-China stations in the medical department until the...
, had been convinced of the necessity of building railways to connect the different parts of Indochina, and had identified certain key routes that should be built as a matter of priority; among these, a route connecting Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Saigon, and another connecting Hanoi and Lao Cai
Lao Cai
Lào Cai is a city in northeastern Vietnam. It is the capital of Lao Cai province. The city borders the city of Hekou, in the Yunnan province of Southwest China. It lies at the junction of the Red River and the Nam Ti River approximately 160 miles northwest of Hanoi...
. In 1897, Doumer submitted an overarching proposal for railway development in Indochina, including plans for what would eventually become the Yunnan–Vietnam Railway and the North–South Railway
North-South Railway, Vietnam
The Vietnam North-South Railway, also known as the Reunification Express, is a railway that runs from Ha Noi to Ho Chi Minh City. The total length of this railway is , with a gauge of metre gauge...
. The French government approved the construction of the entire Yunnan line and several sections of the North–South line, approving a loan of 200 million francs within the following year. Work began swiftly thereafter, with the Phu Lang Thuong—Lang Son line being upgraded and extended from Hanoi to the Chinese border at Dong Dang by 1902, and the first section of the Yunnan line between Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Haiphong
Haiphong
, also Haiphong, is the third most populous city in Vietnam. The name means, "coastal defence".-History:Hai Phong was originally founded by Lê Chân, the female general of a Vietnamese revolution against the Chinese led by the Trưng Sisters in the year 43 C.E.The area which is now known as Duong...
opening in the same year.
Long Bien Bridge
Long Bien Bridge is a historic cantilever bridge across the Red River that connects two parts of the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. It was originally called Paul Doumer Bridge.- History :...
) in 1902, the largest bridge in Southeast Asia at that time. Construction on the Yunnan line continued northwestward towards the border town of Lao Cai, opening in segments beginning in 1903; the entire Hanoi–Lao Cai line was finally opened in 1906. Finally, in 1910, the line was extended to its final destination of Kunming
Kunming
' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...
. Construction of the Yunnan line was an extremely difficult undertaking, incurring not only great expenditures but also a great loss of human life. At least 12,000 labourers died from malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
or accidents, 10,000 of these in the Nam-ti Valley alone.
Construction of the North–South Railway began in 1899, and lasted over thirty years, with individual sections completed serially: from 1899 to 1905, the Hanoi–Vinh
Vinh
Vinh is a city in Vietnam. It is located in the northern half of the country, and is the capital of Nghệ An Province. Politically, Vinh is a municipality within Nghệ An Province. On September 5th, 2008, it was upgraded from Grade-II city to Grade-I city, the fourth Grade-I city of Vietnam after...
section was laid down, followed by the Nha Trang–Saigon section from 1905 to 1913, then the Vinh–Huế
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
section from 1913 to 1927, and finally, the remaining Huế–Nha Trang
Nha Trang
Nha Trang is a coastal city and capital of Khanh Hoa province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the North by Ninh Hoà district, on the East by the South China Sea, on the South by Cam Ranh town and on the West by Diên Khánh district...
section from 1930 to 1936. On 2 October 1936, the entire 1726 km (1,072.5 mi) Hanoi–Saigon link was formally put into full operation. The first journeys from end to end of the newly completed line, dubbed the Transindochinois, generally took about 60 hours, or two days and three nights. This decreased to about 40 hours by the late 1930s, with trains travelling at an average speed of 43 kph.
Wartime
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
in 1937, the railway into Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
served as a channel for arms shipments to the Chinese Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
. French refusal to halt shipments of arms and other war-related goods to China through Tonkin eventually provoked the Invasion of French Indochina by Japanese forces in 1940. The Japanese used the railway system extensively during their occupation, inviting sabotage by the Viet Minh
Viet Minh
Việt Minh was a national independence coalition formed at Pac Bo on May 19, 1941. The Việt Minh initially formed to seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. When the Japanese occupation began, the Việt Minh opposed Japan with support from the United States and the Republic of China...
as well as airborne Allied bombing raids. The railways sustained considerable damage, including the destruction of bridges.
Shortly after World War II ended, the First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
began, and the Viet Minh's sabotage of the rail system continued, this time against the armies of the French Union
French Union
The French Union was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial system, the "French Empire" and to abolish its "indigenous" status.-History:...
. The French returned several sections of the railway to full operation, allowing trains to circulate freely from Saigon to Ninh Hoa, Saigon to Loc Ninh
Loc Ninh
Lộc Ninh is a town in southern Vietnam. It is a rural district of Binh Phuoc province in the southeastern region of Vietnam. A major battle, the Battle of Loc Ninh, occurred there during the Vietnam War.-Transport:...
, Saigon to My Tho and Hue to Tourane (Da Nang) by the end of 1947. The sections lying between Nha Trang
Nha Trang
Nha Trang is a coastal city and capital of Khanh Hoa province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the North by Ninh Hoà district, on the East by the South China Sea, on the South by Cam Ranh town and on the West by Diên Khánh district...
and Tourane and north of Hue were judged to be too insecure to be returned to service at the time.
Early in the conflict, the Viet Minh's sabotage attempts failed to seriously damage the French railways, and most trains circulated without much protection. Beginning in 1947, however, the Viet Minh began to use mines, with circulation slowing to a crawl as they became more and more powerful. In response, the French began using the armed armoured train
Armoured train
An armoured train is a train protected with armour. They are usually equipped with railroad cars armed with artillery and machine guns. They were mostly used during the late 19th and early 20th century, when they offered an innovative way to quickly move large amounts of firepower...
La Rafale as both a cargo-carrier and a mobile surveillance unit. In February 1951 the first Rafale was in service on the Saigon-Nha Trang section of the North–South line, manned by the 2e Etranger (French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
). Use of the Rafale failed to deter the Viet Minh, however, who continued sabotaging the line, making off with its rails under cover of night and using them to create a new 300 kilometres (186.4 mi) rail network between Ninh Hoa and Da Nang, in a Viet Minh-controlled area. In 1954, following the signature of the Geneva Accords
Geneva Conference (1954)
The Geneva Conference was a conference which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, whose purpose was to attempt to find a way to unify Korea and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina...
and the end of the First Indochina War, Vietnam—along with its railway system—was divided along the Ben Hai River
Ben Hai River
The Ben Hai River is a river in central Vietnam which became an important landmark in the partition of the country into a northern and a southern zone along the 17th parallel by the Geneva Accords of 1954...
in Quang Tri Province
Quang Tri Province
Quảng Trị is a province on the North Central Coast of Vietnam, north of the former imperial capital of Huế.-Geography:Located in North Central Vietnam, Quang Tri Province is surrounded by Quang Binh Province on the north, Thua Thien-Hue Province on the south, Savannakhet Province of Laos on the...
.
Throughout the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, the Vietnamese railway network—especially the North–South Railway—was a target of bombardments and sabotage by both North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese forces. In the South, American aid allowed the South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
ese government to reconstruct the main line between Saigon and Hue, and several branch lines were also completed. As reconstruction efforts advanced, however, bombardments and sabotage of the railways by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese intensified, reducing the transportation capacity and effectiveness of the railway, and eventually forcing the abandonment of many large sections of the track. In 1964, Typhoons Joan and Iris, the worst to strike Vietnam in sixty-five years, damaged the railway system even further, restricting operations to five separated segments. A second reconstruction effort, assisted again by the U.S. government, began in December 1966, and progressed in those areas where security was re-established. The system reopened 340 kilometers of main line in areas where security was restored.
In North Vietnam, American bombing of railways was concentrated on key targets such as bridges, both along the North–South Railway and along the lines north of Hanoi, such as the Hanoi–Lao Cai and Hanoi–Dong Dang lines. At several points during the war, American bombing severely hindered transport along both lines, on which the North Vietnamese depended for shipments from their Chinese allies. Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was the title of a gradual and sustained US 2nd Air Division , US Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force aerial bombardment campaign conducted against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 2 March 1965 until 1 November 1968, during the Vietnam War.The four objectives...
was the first large-scale bombing campaign carried out by the U.S. Air Force, taking place from March 2, 1965 until November 1, 1968, when US President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
temporarily called off air raids. Large-scale air raids resumed from May 9 to October 23, 1972, for Operation Linebacker
Operation Linebacker
Operation Linebacker was the title of a U.S. Seventh Air Force and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 aerial interdiction campaign conducted against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 9 May to 23 October 1972, during the Vietnam War....
, and again from December 18–29, 1972, for Operation Linebacker II
Operation Linebacker II
Operation Linebacker II was a US Seventh Air Force and US Navy Task Force 77 aerial bombing campaign, conducted against targets in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam during the final period of US involvement in the Vietnam War...
, with fewer target restrictions than Rolling Thunder.
Railway engineering troops from the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, deployed in late June 1965, were tasked with repairing the damage caused by the bombing. By late December of that year, reconstruction was complete on 363 kilometers of both the Hanoi–Lao Cai and Hanoi–Dong Dang lines, significantly increasing shipping capacity. A third rail was added to the existing lines, using standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
spacing, effectively converting them to mixed gauge lines. This allowed Chinese trains to connect directly with the Vietnamese railway network, without the need for a break-of-gauge. Many new stations, bridges and tunnels were also built, and an entirely new rail line, the Thai Nguyen–Kep line, was built as a strategic connection between the Hanoi–Dong Dang and Hanoi–Thai Nguyen lines.
Thanh Hoa Bridge
The Thanh Hoa Bridge, spanning the Song Ma river, is situated northeast of Thanh Hóa , the capital of Thanh Hoa province in Vietnam. The Vietnamese gave it the nickname Ham Rong . In 1965 during the Vietnam war, it was the objective of many attacks by US Air Force and US Navy aircraft which would...
, a well-defended combined road/rail bridge along the main line in Thanh Hoa Province. The bridge was attacked several times from 1965 to 1972. Several times, traffic over the bridge was interrupted, but every time, the North Vietnamese were able to repair the damage. The bridge was eventually destroyed by laser-guided smart bomb
Smart bomb
Smart bomb has several meanings:* In weapons, a smart bomb is a precision-guided munition* Smart Bomb Interactive, a video game development studio based in Salt Lake City, Utah...
s during separate raids on April 27 and May 13, 1972, as part of Operation Linebacker.
After the Fall of Saigon
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...
on 30 April 1975, the Communist government of the newly unified Vietnam took control of the former South Vietnamese railway. The heavily damaged, war-torn North–South line was restored and returned to service on 31 December 1976, promoted as a symbol of Vietnamese unity. In the short time between the surrender of the South and the reopening of the line, 1334 bridges, 27 tunnels, 158 stations and 1370 switches had been repaired. Other railway lines that once existed, such as the Da Lat-Thap Cham
Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm
Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm, also called Panduranga, is a new city in Vietnam and the capital of Ninh Thuan province. The community has a population of 161,000 , of which 91,000 live in the main city....
line, were dismantled during this period to provide materials for the repair of the main line. The outbreak of the Sino–Vietnamese War in 1979 resulted in the closing of borders, including railways; particularly, the railway bridge that connected Lao Cai and Hekou on the Yunnan–Vietnam line was destroyed by sabotage during the conflict. Rail traffic between the two countries would eventually resume in 1992.
Network
The Vietnamese railway network has a total length of 2600 kilometres (1,615.6 mi), dominated by the North-South line running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City; as of 2007, 85% of the network's passenger volume and 60% of its cargo volume was transported along this line. There were 278 stations on the Vietnamese railway network as of 2005, 191 of which were located along the North-South line.Several railway lines have been proposed for construction in Vietnam in recent years. The largest such project is the high-speed
High-speed rail
High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...
North-South Express Railway
North-South Express Railway (Vietnam)
North-South Express Railway is a proposed express railway in Vietnam. The line would begin in Hanoi, crossing provinces and municipalities of Hà Nội, Hà Tây, Hà Nam, Ninh Bình, Thanh Hoá, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Đà Nẵng, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên,...
connecting Ha Noi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
, (see High-speed rail, below) valued at approximately US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
56 billion. Due to its cost, plans for the line are currently on hold pending further study of the project. Other projects involve the restoration of previously existing lines, such as the Da Lat–Tháp Chàm and Ho Chi Minh City–Loc Ninh lines, both of which were originally built in the 1930s, but fell into disuse after decades of war. The proposed Ho Chi Minh City–Loc Ninh and Mu Gia–Vung Ang lines (both of which had either existed or been considered before World War II) would establish Vietnam's first international railway links to Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, respectively.
Current lines
| Description | Established | Length | Stations | Travel time | Gauge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North-South Railway | 1936 | 1726 km (1,072.5 mi) | 191 | 30 hrs | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
| Hanoi–Lao Cai | 1906 | 296 km (183.9 mi) | 40 | 10 hrs | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
| Hanoi–Dong Dang | 1902 | 163 km (101.3 mi) | 23 | 4.25 hrs | Mixed gauge Dual gauge A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail... |
| Kep–Ha Long | 1950s | 106 km (65.9 mi) | 12 | 4.5 hrs | Standard gauge Standard gauge The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge... |
| Hanoi–Haiphong | 1902 | 102 km (63.4 mi) | 18 | 2.5 hrs | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
| Hanoi–Thai Nguyen | 1962 | 75 km (46.6 mi) | 14 | ?? | Mixed gauge Dual gauge A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail... |
| Thai Nguyen–Kep | 1966 | 57 km (35.4 mi) | 6? | ?? | Standard gauge Standard gauge The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge... |
| Pho Lu–Xuan Giao | ?? | 11 km (6.8 mi) | ?? | ?? | ?? |
| Tien Kien–Bai Bang | ?? | 10.5 km (6.5 mi) | ?? | ?? | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
| Da Lat–Trai Mat Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway The Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway or Da Lat-Phan Rang Railway was an rack railway connecting the city of Da Lat to the main North-South Railway at Thap Cham in Ninh Thuan Province. It was established by the French administration of Indochina in 1932 after thirty years of construction in phases,... |
1932 | 7 km (4.3 mi) | 2 | ?? | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
| Tien Kien–Lam Thao | ?? | 4.1 km (2.5 mi) | ?? | ?? | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
Proposed lines
| Description | Length | Gauge | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| North-South Express Railway North-South Express Railway (Vietnam) North-South Express Railway is a proposed express railway in Vietnam. The line would begin in Hanoi, crossing provinces and municipalities of Hà Nội, Hà Tây, Hà Nam, Ninh Bình, Thanh Hoá, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Đà Nẵng, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên,... |
1570 km (975.6 mi) | Standard gauge Standard gauge The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge... |
See High-speed rail, below. |
| Da Lat–Thap Cham Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway The Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway or Da Lat-Phan Rang Railway was an rack railway connecting the city of Da Lat to the main North-South Railway at Thap Cham in Ninh Thuan Province. It was established by the French administration of Indochina in 1932 after thirty years of construction in phases,... |
127 km (78.9 mi) | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
Originally established in 1932. One section still in use; see Da Lat–Trai Mat above. |
| Ho Chi Minh City–Vung Tau | 110 km (68.4 mi) | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
|
| Di An–Loc Ninh | 100 km (62.1 mi) | ?? | Originally established in 1933, abandoned c.1959. See International links to Cambodia, below. |
| Mu Gia–Vung Ang | ?? | ?? | See International links to Laos, below. |
Defunct lines
| Description | Established | Length | Gauge | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phu Lang Thuong–Lang Son | 1895 | 31 km (19.3 mi) | 600mm Narrow gauge A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :... |
Refurbished and extended to create the Hanoi–Dong Dang line (see above). |
| Giat–Nghia Dan | — | 30 km (18.6 mi) | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
Line was left incomplete. |
| Gia Dinh–Hoc Mon | ?? | 20 km (12.4 mi) | ?? | |
| Tan Ap–Thakhek | — | 17.5 km (10.9 mi) | ?? | Line was left incomplete. |
| Don Dien Coudoux–Xom Cuc | 1960s | 17 km (10.6 mi) | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
|
| Dong Dang–Na Sam | 1921 | 15 km (9.3 mi) | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... or 600mm Narrow gauge A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :... |
|
| Mai Pha–Dong | ?? | 7 km (4.3 mi) | Standard gauge Standard gauge The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge... |
|
| Trang Bom–Ap Thanh Lam | — | ?? | ?? | Line was left incomplete. |
International railway links
ChinaThe railway link from Haiphong
Haiphong
, also Haiphong, is the third most populous city in Vietnam. The name means, "coastal defence".-History:Hai Phong was originally founded by Lê Chân, the female general of a Vietnamese revolution against the Chinese led by the Trưng Sisters in the year 43 C.E.The area which is now known as Duong...
to the Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
city of Kunming
Kunming
' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...
was originally built by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
administration of Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
in the early 20th century. The section within Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
is 389 km long (237 km between Hanoi and the border at Lao Cai
Lao Cai
Lào Cai is a city in northeastern Vietnam. It is the capital of Lao Cai province. The city borders the city of Hekou, in the Yunnan province of Southwest China. It lies at the junction of the Red River and the Nam Ti River approximately 160 miles northwest of Hanoi...
). The railway used gauge due to the mountainous terrain along the route. Currently, the line is the only main line in China using metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
, (or dual gauge
Dual gauge
A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail...
, since it can also be converted
Gauge conversion
In rail transport, gauge conversion is the process of converting a railway from one rail gauge to another, through the alteration of the railway tracks...
to standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
). Railway service along the Chinese portion of the route is currently suspended. Cross-border service was available until 2002, when floods and landslides, which frequently caused delays along the route, caused serious damage to the tracks on the Chinese side. The railway will form the Chinese part of the Singapore-Kunming Rail Link, which is expected to be completed in 2015.
Railway access to Nanning
Nanning
Nanning is the capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush tropical foliage.-History:...
is done through the border at Dong Dang, in Lang Son Province
Lạng Sơn Province
Lạng Sơn is a province in far northern Vietnam, bordering Guangxi province in China. Its capital is also called Lang Son, which is a strategically important town at the border with China and is northeast of Hanoi connected by rail and road...
. Regular service generally entails stopping at the border, changing from a Vietnamese metre-gauge train to a Chinese standard-gauge train, and continuing on to Nanning. Since 2009, a daily overnight service is available; the train departs from Hanoi's Gia Lam Railway Station
Gia Lam Railway Station
Gia Lam Railway Station is a railway station in Vietnam, in the north eastern Gia Lam district of Hanoi. It serves the city of Hanoi.It corresponds to the end of the normal gauge railway linking Vietnam to China ; the daily train to Nanning starts there rather than from the main Hanoi Railway...
, and runs on standard-gauge tracks all the way to Nanning.
Cambodia
There is currently no railway connection between Vietnam and Cambodia. The French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
administration of Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
originally built a railway from Saigon to Loc Ninh
Loc Ninh
Lộc Ninh is a town in southern Vietnam. It is a rural district of Binh Phuoc province in the southeastern region of Vietnam. A major battle, the Battle of Loc Ninh, occurred there during the Vietnam War.-Transport:...
in the 1930s, with the intent of extending it further into Cambodia. It was abandoned in 1945, at the start of the First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
. A new line connecting Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
to Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Located on the banks of the Mekong River, Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security,...
, Cambodia, was proposed as part of the Singapore–Kunming Rail Link project, overseen by the ASEAN–Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (AMBDC). The 129 km (80.2 mi) Vietnamese portion of the line would begin with a junction of the North-South Railway
North-South Railway, Vietnam
The Vietnam North-South Railway, also known as the Reunification Express, is a railway that runs from Ha Noi to Ho Chi Minh City. The total length of this railway is , with a gauge of metre gauge...
at Di An Railway Station
Di An Railway Station
Di An Railway Station is a railway station on the North-South Railway line in Vietnam. It serves the town of Di An in Binh Duong Province....
, and would end in Lộc Ninh
Loc Ninh
Lộc Ninh is a town in southern Vietnam. It is a rural district of Binh Phuoc province in the southeastern region of Vietnam. A major battle, the Battle of Loc Ninh, occurred there during the Vietnam War.-Transport:...
, Binh Phuoc Province
Binh Phuoc Province
Bình Phước is a province of Vietnam. It is located in the southeastern region of the country, to the north of Ho Chi Minh City. It shares a border with Cambodia.-History:...
, close to the Cambodian border. According to the plan established by ASEAN, this stretch is scheduled for completion by 2020.
Laos
There is currently no railway connection between Vietnam and Laos. In 2007, the Laotian Ministry of Transportation entered into discussion with Vietnam to discuss the possibility of opening a new railway line from Thakhek
Thakhek
Thakhek is a town in south-central Laos on the Mekong River and facing Nakhon Phanom across the river in northeastern Thailand. It is the capital of Khammouane province....
in Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
through the Mu Gia Pass
Mu Gia Pass
The Mu Gia Pass is a mountain pass in the Annamite Range between northern Vietnam and Laos, located 90 km northwest of Đồng Hới, Vietnam. The pass is 418 m above sea level and connects Route 15 from Tân Ấp in Vietnam to Route 12 in Khammouane Province in Laos....
to Tan Ap Railway Station
Tan Ap Railway Station
Tan Ap Railway Station is a railway station on the North-South Railway line in Vietnam. It serves the town of Tân Ấp in Quang Binh Province. From 1933, the station also served as a terminus of the Tan Ap - Xom Cuc railway, the only stretch of railway opened as part of the aborted Thakhek - Tan Ap...
in Quang Binh Province
Quang Binh Province
Quảng Bình , formerly Tiên Bình under the reign of Le Trung Hung of the Lê Dynasty, this province was renamed Quảng Bình in 1604) is a province in the North Central Coast of Vietnam....
, connecting to the national railway at Vung Ang, a port in Ha Tinh Province which the Vietnamese Government plans to expand. This would revive, in part, an earlier but aborted scheme, the Thakhek - Tan Ap railway. According to plans established by ASEAN, the line may be extended via Thakhek all the way to the Laotian capital Vientiane
Vientiane
-Geography:Vientiane is situated on a bend of the Mekong river, which forms the border with Thailand at this point.-Climate:Vientiane features a tropical wet and dry climate with a distinct monsoon season and a dry season. Vientiane’s dry season spans from November through March. April marks the...
. Both Laos and Thailand have expressed interest in the project as a shorter export gateway to the Pacific Ocean.
High-speed rail
Vietnam Railways
The railway system in Vietnam is operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways . The principal route is the thousand-mile single track North-South Railway line, running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This was built at the metre gauge in the 1880s during the French colonial rule...
has proposed a high-speed rail
High-speed rail
High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...
link between Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
, capable of running at speeds of 300 km/h (186 mph). Funding for the line would come mainly from the Vietnamese government, with Japanese aid in the form of official development assistance
Official development assistance
Official development assistance is a term compiled by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to measure aid. The DAC first compiled the term in 1969. It is widely used by academics and journalists as a convenient indicator of...
(ODA). Current technology allows trains travelling on the current, single-track Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City line
North-South Railway, Vietnam
The Vietnam North-South Railway, also known as the Reunification Express, is a railway that runs from Ha Noi to Ho Chi Minh City. The total length of this railway is , with a gauge of metre gauge...
to complete the journey in approximately thirty hours. Once completed, the high-speed rail line—using Japanese Shinkansen
Shinkansen
The , also known as THE BULLET TRAIN, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by four Japan Railways Group companies. Starting with the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in 1964, the network has expanded to currently consist of of lines with maximum speeds of , of Mini-shinkansen with a...
technology—would allow trains to complete the Hanoi–Ho Chi Minh City journey in less than six hours.
Vietnamese prime minister
Prime Minister of Vietnam
-Office:The Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the head of the executive branch of the Vietnamese government. The Prime Minister presides over the Vietnamese cabinet, and is responsible for appointing and supervising ministers...
Nguyen Tan Dung had originally set an ambitious target, approving a 1630 km (1,012.8 mi) line to be completed by 2013, with 70 percent of funding (initially estimated at US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
33 billion) coming from Japanese ODA, and the remaining 30 percent raised through loans. Later reports raised estimated costs to US$56 billion (almost 60 percent of Vietnam's GDP
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
in 2009) for a completion date in the mid-2030s. On June 19, 2010, after a month of deliberation, Vietnam's National Assembly rejected the high speed rail proposal due to its high cost; National Assembly deputies had asked for further study of the project.
Ho Chi Minh City Metro
A rapid transitRapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
network to serve Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
was first proposed in 2001 as part of a comprehensive public transport network plan including Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring provinces. The project is managed by the city's Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), a government unit working directly under the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. The city’s plan envisages developing three monorail
Monorail
A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...
or light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
lines with a total length of 37 kilometres (23 mi) and six underground metro
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
routes with a total length of 107 kilometres (66.5 mi). The network's first line, connecting Bến Thành Market
Ben Thanh Market
Ben Thanh Market is a big marketplace in the downtown area of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in District 1...
and Suoi Tien Park
Suoi Tien Amusement Park
Suoi Tien Amusement Park is an amusement park in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The park includes several entertainment areas. The landscaping and attractions in the park illustrate Vietnam's history and legends, such as Au Co and Lac Long Quan as well as the Battle of Son Tinh and Thuy Tinh...
in District 9
District 9, Ho Chi Minh City
District 9 is an urban district of Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam. As of 2003 the district had a population of 166,680. The district covers an area of 114 km².-References:...
, is scheduled for completion in 2015, and a second line between Bến Thành Market
Ben Thanh Market
Ben Thanh Market is a big marketplace in the downtown area of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in District 1...
and Tham Luong in District 12
District 12, Ho Chi Minh City
District 12 is an urban district of Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam.As of 2003 the district had a population of 239,610...
is due to begin construction in August 2010, scheduled for completion in 2016. Other proposed lines include: a Bến Thành Market
Ben Thanh Market
Ben Thanh Market is a big marketplace in the downtown area of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in District 1...
–Binh Tan line via Cholon
Cholon, Ho Chi Minh City
Chợ Lớn is a Chinese-influenced section of Ho Chi Minh City . It is the largest Chinatown in Vietnam. It lies on the west bank of the Saigon River, having Binh Tay Market as its central market. Cholon consists of the western half of District 5 as well as several adjoining neighborhoods in District...
; a line running from Lang Cha Ca in Tan Binh district to Van Thanh Park in Binh Thanh district; a line connecting Thu Thiem
Thu Thiem New Urban Area
The Thu Thiem New Urban Area is an urban project in District 2, Ho Chi Minh City . It is currently under construction.-Location:...
in District 2
District 2, Ho Chi Minh City
District 2, in which the new province of Thu Thiem is located, is a district of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, with the most potential.In the past, District 2 has been one of the poorest parts of Ho Chi Minh City due to the separation of the Saigon River. However, it is now the new hope for the...
with Can Giuoc in District 8
District 8, Ho Chi Minh City
District 8 is an urban district of Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam.As of 2003 the district had a population of 342,278. The district covers an area of 19 km².-References:...
; and a line stretching from Ba Queo in Tan Binh district to Phu Lam in District 6
District 6, Ho Chi Minh City
District 6 is an urban district of Ho Chi Minh City, which is the largest city in Vietnam. As of 2003 the district had a population of 283,794. The district covers an area of 6 km².-References:...
.
Hanoi Metro
In July 2008, Vietnamese Prime MinisterPrime Minister of Vietnam
-Office:The Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the head of the executive branch of the Vietnamese government. The Prime Minister presides over the Vietnamese cabinet, and is responsible for appointing and supervising ministers...
Nguyễn Tấn Dũng approved an overall transport development plan for Hanoi, which, among other projects, proposed a rapid transit
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
system with five routes. The project is being carried out by the Hanoi Metropolitan Rail Transport Project Board (HRB). As of spring 2009, projects for four lines were under consideration: the Nho–Hanoi Railway Station (the "pilot" line), the Nam Thang Long–Tran Hung Dao line, the Cat Linh–Ha Dong line, and the Yen Vien–Ngoc Hoi line. The Nho–Hanoi Railway Station, Cat Linh–Ha Dong and Yen Vien–Ngoc Hoi lines are currently in the research phase. Technical studies of the system were expected to be completed in 2009. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has confirmed that the Nam Thang Long–Tran Hung Dao line would begin construction in mid-2011, to be completed in 2014 for full operation by 2016.
Infrastructure
Most of Vietnam's railway infrastructure—including bridges, rail trucks, track beds, rollingstocks, signals and communication equipment, and maintenance facilities—has suffered severe deterioration, mainly due to damage inflicted during the Vietnam War and a subsequent lack of capital investment and maintenance. More recently, rehabilitation projects sustained by official development assistance
Official development assistance
Official development assistance is a term compiled by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to measure aid. The DAC first compiled the term in 1969. It is widely used by academics and journalists as a convenient indicator of...
have allowed the most critical pieces of infrastructure along the line to be replaced, although much work still remains to be done.
Tracks
Most existing Vietnamese railway lines use metre gaugeMetre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
, although standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
and mixed gauge are used northeast of Hanoi. As of 2005, approximately 2600 km (1,615.6 mi) of track was in use throughout Vietnam:
metre gauge ; standard gauge ; and mixed gauge ( and ).
Besides active tracks, around 506 km (314.4 mi) of tracks are in use as siding, bringing the total to 3106 km (1,930 mi) of track laid nationwide.
Bridges
Vietnam Railways reports the number of railway bridges along the North–South line to be 1,300, totalling about 28000 m (91,863.5 ft), or about 63% of the national total. Considering both standard rail bridges and combined bridges, the total length along the North–South line is about 36000 m (118,110.2 ft). Many of the railway bridges were severely worn from age and sport damage dating from the Vietnam War, despite their restoration following the war. As of 2007, 278 bridges requiring major rehabilitation remain along the North–South Railway line. Throughout the entire Vietnamese rail network, Vietnam Railways reports a total of 1,790 railway bridges, with a total length of 45368 m (148,845.1 ft).Tunnels
There are 27 railway tunnels along the North–South line, amounting to a total length of 8335 m (27,345.8 ft). Throughout the entire Vietnamese rail network, Vietnam Railways report a total of 39 tunnels with a combined length of 11512 m (37,769 ft). Certain tunnels are inadequately drained and suffer from deterioration in the tunnel lining, causing water leaks that necessitate reductions in speed.Signalling
The North–South Railway line uses a semi-automatic block system, which allows individual signals to work either as automatic signalsAutomatic Block Signal
Automatic Block Signaling, or ABS, is a block system that consists of a series of signals that divide a railway line into a series of blocks and then functions to control the movement of trains between them through automatic signals...
or manual signals. These replace the token
Token (railway signalling)
In railway signalling, a token is a physical object which a locomotive driver is required to have or see before entering onto a particular section of single track. The token is clearly endorsed with the name of the section it belongs to...
method used in earlier years. According to a joint Japanese-Vietnamese evaluation team, the recent installation of additional auto-signal systems at key crossings along the line has contributed to a decline in railway accidents. Semaphore signals
Railway semaphore signal
One of the earliest forms of fixed railway signal is the semaphore. These signals display their different indications to train drivers by changing the angle of inclination of a pivoted 'arm'. Semaphore signals were patented in the early 1840s by Joseph James Stevens, and soon became the most...
were once used throughout the Vietnamese rail network, but these are gradually being replaced with colour light signals; most of the railway lines in northern Vietnam have been converted.
According to Vietnam Railways, automatic warning systems have been installed at 230 level crossings throughout the country.
Communications
Since 1998, microband Asynchronous Transfer ModeAsynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a standard switching technique designed to unify telecommunication and computer networks. It uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing, and it encodes data into small, fixed-sized cells. This differs from approaches such as the Internet Protocol or Ethernet that...
technology has been used along the North–South Railway line to send television signals; 64 kbps transmission lines are leased from the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VPTC). Along some sections of the line—for example, from Hanoi to Vinh and from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City—a fiber optic cable network has been deployed; Vietnam Railways intends to extend the network along the remaining distance from Vinh to Nha Trang. A switching system featuring digital exchanges is in place, connected via the existing transmission system and the public telephone network. As the modernization of the telecommunication system progresses, manual exchanges are gradually being replaced with digital exchanges.
Sewers
The Vietnamese rail network includes 4,860 sewers, with a total length of 71439 m (234,379.9 ft).Safety
The overall condition of railway infrastructure in Vietnam varies from poor to fair; most of the network remains in need of rehabilitation and upgrading, having received only temporary repair from damages suffered during decades of war. A joint Japanese-Vietnamese evaluation team found that the poor state of railway infrastructure was the fundamental cause for most railway accidents, of which the most common types are train crashes against vehicles and persons, especially at illegal level crossings; derailmentDerailment
A derailment is an accident on a railway or tramway in which a rail vehicle, or part or all of a train, leaves the tracks on which it is travelling, with consequent damage and in many cases injury and/or death....
s caused by failure to decrease speed was also noted as a common cause of accidents.
The Vietnamese railway network is crossed by many roads in several crowded areas; as a result, accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians have occurred. In the first 10 months of 2009, 431 railway accidents reportedly took place throughout Vietnam, causing 166 casualties and injuring 319 people. A researcher from Villanova University
Villanova University
Villanova University is a private university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
noted "There are numerous safety issues with level crossings
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
ing and bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
s are often swept away, causing lengthy closures.
Along with recent efforts aimed at infrastructure rehabilitation, the recent adoption of safety measures by Vietnam Railways has led to a decline in railway accidents. These measures include: public awareness campaigns on railway safety in the media; construction of fences and safety barriers at critical level crossings in major cities; mobilization of volunteers for traffic control at train stations and level crossings, especially during holiday seasons; the installation of additional auto-signal systems; and the construction of flyovers
Overpass
An overpass is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway...
and underpass
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...
es to redirect traffic.
Railway management
The Vietnamese railway network is owned and operated by the state-owned enterprise Vietnam RailwaysVietnam Railways
The railway system in Vietnam is operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways . The principal route is the thousand-mile single track North-South Railway line, running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This was built at the metre gauge in the 1880s during the French colonial rule...
(VNR), which operates a number of different subsidiaries involved in construction, communications, training, and other activities connected to railway maintenance. Following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the newly reunified Vietnamese railway network was centrally managed by the precursor of VNR, the government's Department of Railways. Initially, low rail tariffs and the poor state of infrastructure used in other modes of transport led to high usage, but revenue proved to be insufficient to cover the railway's operating costs. In 1986, the Government's implementation of Doi Moi economic reforms led to the deregulation of the transport sector and the shift towards a market-led economy, forcing the railways to change in order to maintain a competitive edge. The Department of Railways was reorganized into Vietnam Railways in 1989; since that time, railway reform has passed through a number of stages. Responsibility for rail infrastructure and operations were separated by government decree in 1994. The government of Germany began providing assistance with the restructuring of the railway sector in 2000, allowing VNR to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations, thus increasing its competitiveness. In 2003, VNR was re-organized as a state corporation, the Vietnam Railway Corporation, operating in railway transport and related services; railway administration and infrastructure management were given to the Vietnam Railway Administration, under the authority of the Ministry of Transport. A Railway Law was passed by the National Assembly on 19 May 2005; although regulations for the law's implementation have yet to be issued, it does provide a strong basis for further sector development; among other things, it proposed that foreign investors
Foreign direct investment
Foreign direct investment or foreign investment refers to the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor.. It is the sum of equity capital,other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in...
be invited to invest in Vietnam Railways.
See also
- Transport in VietnamTransport in Vietnam- Railways :The Vietnamese railway network has a total length of , dominated by the single track North-South Railway running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The national railway network uses mainly metre gauge, although there are several standard gauge and mixed gauge lines in the North of the...
- Ho Chi Minh City MetroHo Chi Minh City MetroThe Ho Chi Minh City Metro is a proposed rapid transit network that will serve Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. The network was first proposed in 2001 as part of a comprehensive public transport network plan including Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring provinces, with the aim of avoiding the severe...
- Gia Lam Train CompanyGia Lam Train CompanyGia Lam Train Company is a Vietnamese railcar manufacturer. The company supplies cars to Vietnam Railways. Gia Lam is also the name of the main station in Hanoi, and also an airport.-Products:* Air suspension bogie for coach* Bogie for coach...
- Vietnam RailwaysVietnam RailwaysThe railway system in Vietnam is operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways . The principal route is the thousand-mile single track North-South Railway line, running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This was built at the metre gauge in the 1880s during the French colonial rule...
External links
- Official Website of Vietnam Railways
- Ministry of Transport, Vietnam
- Collected postcards depicting the Railways of Indochina. Society of Indo-China Philatelists.
Maps
- Detailed Railway Map. Daumaytoaxe.com.
- World Bank transport map
The railway system in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
is owned and operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways
Vietnam Railways
The railway system in Vietnam is operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways . The principal route is the thousand-mile single track North-South Railway line, running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This was built at the metre gauge in the 1880s during the French colonial rule...
. The principal route, the single track
Single track (rail)
A single track railway is where trains in both directions share the same track. Single track is normally used on lesser used rail lines, often branch lines, where the traffic density is not high enough to justify the cost of building double tracks....
North-South Railway running between Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
, accounts for 1726 kilometres (1,072.5 mi) of the network's total length of 2600 kilometres (1,615.6 mi). The national railway network uses mainly metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
, although there are several standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
and mixed gauge lines in the North of the country.
Summary
The first railways in Vietnam were established in the 1880s; these included a tramTram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
running between the ports of Saigon
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
and Cholon, and a regional rail
Regional rail
Commuter rail, also called suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates between a city center, and the middle to outer suburbs beyond 15km and commuter towns or other locations that draw large numbers of commuters—people who travel on a daily basis...
line connecting Saigon with My Tho. Railway construction flourished soon afterwards, during the administration of Paul Doumer
Paul Doumer
Joseph Athanase Paul Doumer, commonly known as Paul Doumer was the President of France from 13 June 1931 until his assassination.-Biography:...
as Governor-General of French Indochina
Governor-General of French Indochina
-External links:*...
from 1897 to 1902. It was during this time that construction of the Yunnan–Vietnam and North–South railways began. Construction of the North-South line took over thirty years, finally beginning operation in 1936, during which time other branch lines were also completed. Beginning in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the entire rail network became a target of bombing attacks by a number of groups, including both North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
ese and South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
ese troops during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Although the main lines—particularly the North–South line—were quickly restored and returned to service once conflict ended, many branch lines were abandoned and dismantled at their expense, their infrastructure used to replace damaged sections of the main lines, or sold as scrap
Scrap Metal
Scrap Metal were a band from Broome, Western Australia who played rock music with elements of country and reggae. The members had Aboriginal, Irish, Filipino, French, Chinese, Scottish, Indonesian and Japanese heritage. The band toured nationally as part of the Bran Nue Dae musical and with...
.
With increased economic growth brought on by the Doi Moi reforms of the late 1980s, the railway system has entered a renewed phase of development. A number of major projects supported by official development assistance
Official development assistance
Official development assistance is a term compiled by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to measure aid. The DAC first compiled the term in 1969. It is widely used by academics and journalists as a convenient indicator of...
have been proposed or are currently underway, including a series of projects to improve bridge and railway safety on the North-South Railway line, connections to Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, and the restoration of a number of defunct lines, including the Đà Lạt–Tháp Chàm railway
Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway
The Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway or Da Lat-Phan Rang Railway was an rack railway connecting the city of Da Lat to the main North-South Railway at Thap Cham in Ninh Thuan Province. It was established by the French administration of Indochina in 1932 after thirty years of construction in phases,...
first established in the 1930s. A high-speed rail link
North-South Express Railway (Vietnam)
North-South Express Railway is a proposed express railway in Vietnam. The line would begin in Hanoi, crossing provinces and municipalities of Hà Nội, Hà Tây, Hà Nam, Ninh Bình, Thanh Hoá, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Đà Nẵng, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên,...
between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City has also been proposed, which would reduce journey length from 30 hours to around 6 hours.
Usage
Rail transport remains relatively underused as a mode of transport in Vietnam. While road transport dominates the transport sector by far—accounting for 65% of freight moved as of 2006—rail transport accounted for only 4% of freight transportation in 2008, and 5% of passenger transportation, leading it to be considered the "least relevant" of all modes of transport in the European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
's 2010 Green Book
Green paper
In the Commonwealth, the Republic of Ireland and the United States a green paper is a tentative government report of a proposal without any commitment to action; the first step in changing the law...
on Vietnam. According to reports by the Asian Development Bank
Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 22 August 1966 to facilitate economic development of countries in Asia...
, however, the role of rail transport is growing, carving out a significant role for itself in long-distance bulk cargo transport.
The following table gives an overview of rail transport volume and traffic over the period from 1998–2008:
| Transport type | 1998 | 2000 | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freight volume (kt) | 4977.6 | 6258.2 | 7051.9 | 8873.6 | 9153.2 | 8481.1 |
| Freight traffic (Mt-km) | 1369.0 | 1955.0 | 2391.5 | 2745.3 | 3446.6 | 4170.9 |
| Passenger volume (Mpeople) | 9.7 | 9.8 | 10.8 | 12.9 | 11.6 | 11.3 |
| Passenger traffic (Mpeople-km) | 2542.3 | 3199.9 | 3697.2 | 4376.3 | 4333.7 | 4560.4 |
Colonial beginnings
Rail transport was introduced to Vietnam in the 1880s, supported by the FrenchFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
administration of Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
. The earliest rail project to be completed was the Saigon–Cholon tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
way, established in 1881 in what was then Cochinchina
Cochinchina
Cochinchina is a region encompassing the southern third of Vietnam whose principal city is Saigon. It was a French colony from 1862 to 1954. The later state of South Vietnam was created in 1954 by combining Cochinchina with southern Annam. In Vietnamese, the region is called Nam Bộ...
, operated by the Cochinchina Steam Tramway Company (SGTVC). After a month of operation, the Lieutenant Governor of Cochinchina noted that ridership had already reached two thousand passengers. Construction of the first regional rail
Regional rail
Commuter rail, also called suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates between a city center, and the middle to outer suburbs beyond 15km and commuter towns or other locations that draw large numbers of commuters—people who travel on a daily basis...
project, linking Saigon
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
and My Tho, began in the same year, to be completed soon afterwards in 1885. The Saigon–My Tho line reduced travel time between the two cities from 12 hours to only 3 hours, and established a connection between Saigon and the shipping lanes of the Mekong Delta
Mekong Delta
The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of . The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.The...
. The first railway in Tonkin
Tonkin
Tonkin , also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is the northernmost part of Vietnam, south of China's Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces, east of northern Laos, and west of the Gulf of Tonkin. Locally, it is known as Bắc Kỳ, meaning "Northern Region"...
, a gauge line connecting Lang Son
Lang Son
Lạng Sơn , sometimes Langson, is a city in far northern Vietnam, is the capital of Lang Son province. It is accessible by road and rail from Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, and it is the northernmost point on National Road 1A.-History:...
to Phu Lang Thuong (now known as Bac Giang
Bac Giang
Bắc Giang is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of the Bac Giang province. Its name, deriving from Sino-Vietnamese, means "north of the river." Bac Giang was formerly a sister city with Madison, Wisconsin, United States....
), was established in 1895.
Railway construction multiplied during the administration of Paul Doumer
Paul Doumer
Joseph Athanase Paul Doumer, commonly known as Paul Doumer was the President of France from 13 June 1931 until his assassination.-Biography:...
as Governor-General of French Indochina
Governor-General of French Indochina
-External links:*...
from 1897 to 1902. Doumer's predecessor, Jean Marie de Lanessan
Jean Marie Antoine de Lanessan
Jean Marie Antoine de Lanessan was a French statesman and naturalist.-Biography:De Lanessan was born in Saint-André-de-Cubzac in the Gironde department of France and entered the French Navy in 1862, serving on the East African and Cochin-China stations in the medical department until the...
, had been convinced of the necessity of building railways to connect the different parts of Indochina, and had identified certain key routes that should be built as a matter of priority; among these, a route connecting Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Saigon, and another connecting Hanoi and Lao Cai
Lao Cai
Lào Cai is a city in northeastern Vietnam. It is the capital of Lao Cai province. The city borders the city of Hekou, in the Yunnan province of Southwest China. It lies at the junction of the Red River and the Nam Ti River approximately 160 miles northwest of Hanoi...
. In 1897, Doumer submitted an overarching proposal for railway development in Indochina, including plans for what would eventually become the Yunnan–Vietnam Railway and the North–South Railway
North-South Railway, Vietnam
The Vietnam North-South Railway, also known as the Reunification Express, is a railway that runs from Ha Noi to Ho Chi Minh City. The total length of this railway is , with a gauge of metre gauge...
. The French government approved the construction of the entire Yunnan line and several sections of the North–South line, approving a loan of 200 million francs within the following year. Work began swiftly thereafter, with the Phu Lang Thuong—Lang Son line being upgraded and extended from Hanoi to the Chinese border at Dong Dang by 1902, and the first section of the Yunnan line between Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Haiphong
Haiphong
, also Haiphong, is the third most populous city in Vietnam. The name means, "coastal defence".-History:Hai Phong was originally founded by Lê Chân, the female general of a Vietnamese revolution against the Chinese led by the Trưng Sisters in the year 43 C.E.The area which is now known as Duong...
opening in the same year.
Long Bien Bridge
Long Bien Bridge is a historic cantilever bridge across the Red River that connects two parts of the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. It was originally called Paul Doumer Bridge.- History :...
) in 1902, the largest bridge in Southeast Asia at that time. Construction on the Yunnan line continued northwestward towards the border town of Lao Cai, opening in segments beginning in 1903; the entire Hanoi–Lao Cai line was finally opened in 1906. Finally, in 1910, the line was extended to its final destination of Kunming
Kunming
' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...
. Construction of the Yunnan line was an extremely difficult undertaking, incurring not only great expenditures but also a great loss of human life. At least 12,000 labourers died from malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
or accidents, 10,000 of these in the Nam-ti Valley alone.
Construction of the North–South Railway began in 1899, and lasted over thirty years, with individual sections completed serially: from 1899 to 1905, the Hanoi–Vinh
Vinh
Vinh is a city in Vietnam. It is located in the northern half of the country, and is the capital of Nghệ An Province. Politically, Vinh is a municipality within Nghệ An Province. On September 5th, 2008, it was upgraded from Grade-II city to Grade-I city, the fourth Grade-I city of Vietnam after...
section was laid down, followed by the Nha Trang–Saigon section from 1905 to 1913, then the Vinh–Huế
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
section from 1913 to 1927, and finally, the remaining Huế–Nha Trang
Nha Trang
Nha Trang is a coastal city and capital of Khanh Hoa province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the North by Ninh Hoà district, on the East by the South China Sea, on the South by Cam Ranh town and on the West by Diên Khánh district...
section from 1930 to 1936. On 2 October 1936, the entire 1726 km (1,072.5 mi) Hanoi–Saigon link was formally put into full operation. The first journeys from end to end of the newly completed line, dubbed the Transindochinois, generally took about 60 hours, or two days and three nights. This decreased to about 40 hours by the late 1930s, with trains travelling at an average speed of 43 kph.
Wartime
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
in 1937, the railway into Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
served as a channel for arms shipments to the Chinese Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
. French refusal to halt shipments of arms and other war-related goods to China through Tonkin eventually provoked the Invasion of French Indochina by Japanese forces in 1940. The Japanese used the railway system extensively during their occupation, inviting sabotage by the Viet Minh
Viet Minh
Việt Minh was a national independence coalition formed at Pac Bo on May 19, 1941. The Việt Minh initially formed to seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. When the Japanese occupation began, the Việt Minh opposed Japan with support from the United States and the Republic of China...
as well as airborne Allied bombing raids. The railways sustained considerable damage, including the destruction of bridges.
Shortly after World War II ended, the First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
began, and the Viet Minh's sabotage of the rail system continued, this time against the armies of the French Union
French Union
The French Union was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial system, the "French Empire" and to abolish its "indigenous" status.-History:...
. The French returned several sections of the railway to full operation, allowing trains to circulate freely from Saigon to Ninh Hoa, Saigon to Loc Ninh
Loc Ninh
Lộc Ninh is a town in southern Vietnam. It is a rural district of Binh Phuoc province in the southeastern region of Vietnam. A major battle, the Battle of Loc Ninh, occurred there during the Vietnam War.-Transport:...
, Saigon to My Tho and Hue to Tourane (Da Nang) by the end of 1947. The sections lying between Nha Trang
Nha Trang
Nha Trang is a coastal city and capital of Khanh Hoa province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the North by Ninh Hoà district, on the East by the South China Sea, on the South by Cam Ranh town and on the West by Diên Khánh district...
and Tourane and north of Hue were judged to be too insecure to be returned to service at the time.
Early in the conflict, the Viet Minh's sabotage attempts failed to seriously damage the French railways, and most trains circulated without much protection. Beginning in 1947, however, the Viet Minh began to use mines, with circulation slowing to a crawl as they became more and more powerful. In response, the French began using the armed armoured train
Armoured train
An armoured train is a train protected with armour. They are usually equipped with railroad cars armed with artillery and machine guns. They were mostly used during the late 19th and early 20th century, when they offered an innovative way to quickly move large amounts of firepower...
La Rafale as both a cargo-carrier and a mobile surveillance unit. In February 1951 the first Rafale was in service on the Saigon-Nha Trang section of the North–South line, manned by the 2e Etranger (French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
). Use of the Rafale failed to deter the Viet Minh, however, who continued sabotaging the line, making off with its rails under cover of night and using them to create a new 300 kilometres (186.4 mi) rail network between Ninh Hoa and Da Nang, in a Viet Minh-controlled area. In 1954, following the signature of the Geneva Accords
Geneva Conference (1954)
The Geneva Conference was a conference which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, whose purpose was to attempt to find a way to unify Korea and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina...
and the end of the First Indochina War, Vietnam—along with its railway system—was divided along the Ben Hai River
Ben Hai River
The Ben Hai River is a river in central Vietnam which became an important landmark in the partition of the country into a northern and a southern zone along the 17th parallel by the Geneva Accords of 1954...
in Quang Tri Province
Quang Tri Province
Quảng Trị is a province on the North Central Coast of Vietnam, north of the former imperial capital of Huế.-Geography:Located in North Central Vietnam, Quang Tri Province is surrounded by Quang Binh Province on the north, Thua Thien-Hue Province on the south, Savannakhet Province of Laos on the...
.
Throughout the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, the Vietnamese railway network—especially the North–South Railway—was a target of bombardments and sabotage by both North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese forces. In the South, American aid allowed the South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
ese government to reconstruct the main line between Saigon and Hue, and several branch lines were also completed. As reconstruction efforts advanced, however, bombardments and sabotage of the railways by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese intensified, reducing the transportation capacity and effectiveness of the railway, and eventually forcing the abandonment of many large sections of the track. In 1964, Typhoons Joan and Iris, the worst to strike Vietnam in sixty-five years, damaged the railway system even further, restricting operations to five separated segments. A second reconstruction effort, assisted again by the U.S. government, began in December 1966, and progressed in those areas where security was re-established. The system reopened 340 kilometers of main line in areas where security was restored.
In North Vietnam, American bombing of railways was concentrated on key targets such as bridges, both along the North–South Railway and along the lines north of Hanoi, such as the Hanoi–Lao Cai and Hanoi–Dong Dang lines. At several points during the war, American bombing severely hindered transport along both lines, on which the North Vietnamese depended for shipments from their Chinese allies. Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was the title of a gradual and sustained US 2nd Air Division , US Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force aerial bombardment campaign conducted against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 2 March 1965 until 1 November 1968, during the Vietnam War.The four objectives...
was the first large-scale bombing campaign carried out by the U.S. Air Force, taking place from March 2, 1965 until November 1, 1968, when US President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
temporarily called off air raids. Large-scale air raids resumed from May 9 to October 23, 1972, for Operation Linebacker
Operation Linebacker
Operation Linebacker was the title of a U.S. Seventh Air Force and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 aerial interdiction campaign conducted against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 9 May to 23 October 1972, during the Vietnam War....
, and again from December 18–29, 1972, for Operation Linebacker II
Operation Linebacker II
Operation Linebacker II was a US Seventh Air Force and US Navy Task Force 77 aerial bombing campaign, conducted against targets in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam during the final period of US involvement in the Vietnam War...
, with fewer target restrictions than Rolling Thunder.
Railway engineering troops from the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, deployed in late June 1965, were tasked with repairing the damage caused by the bombing. By late December of that year, reconstruction was complete on 363 kilometers of both the Hanoi–Lao Cai and Hanoi–Dong Dang lines, significantly increasing shipping capacity. A third rail was added to the existing lines, using standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
spacing, effectively converting them to mixed gauge lines. This allowed Chinese trains to connect directly with the Vietnamese railway network, without the need for a break-of-gauge. Many new stations, bridges and tunnels were also built, and an entirely new rail line, the Thai Nguyen–Kep line, was built as a strategic connection between the Hanoi–Dong Dang and Hanoi–Thai Nguyen lines.
Thanh Hoa Bridge
The Thanh Hoa Bridge, spanning the Song Ma river, is situated northeast of Thanh Hóa , the capital of Thanh Hoa province in Vietnam. The Vietnamese gave it the nickname Ham Rong . In 1965 during the Vietnam war, it was the objective of many attacks by US Air Force and US Navy aircraft which would...
, a well-defended combined road/rail bridge along the main line in Thanh Hoa Province. The bridge was attacked several times from 1965 to 1972. Several times, traffic over the bridge was interrupted, but every time, the North Vietnamese were able to repair the damage. The bridge was eventually destroyed by laser-guided smart bomb
Smart bomb
Smart bomb has several meanings:* In weapons, a smart bomb is a precision-guided munition* Smart Bomb Interactive, a video game development studio based in Salt Lake City, Utah...
s during separate raids on April 27 and May 13, 1972, as part of Operation Linebacker.
After the Fall of Saigon
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...
on 30 April 1975, the Communist government of the newly unified Vietnam took control of the former South Vietnamese railway. The heavily damaged, war-torn North–South line was restored and returned to service on 31 December 1976, promoted as a symbol of Vietnamese unity. In the short time between the surrender of the South and the reopening of the line, 1334 bridges, 27 tunnels, 158 stations and 1370 switches had been repaired. Other railway lines that once existed, such as the Da Lat-Thap Cham
Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm
Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm, also called Panduranga, is a new city in Vietnam and the capital of Ninh Thuan province. The community has a population of 161,000 , of which 91,000 live in the main city....
line, were dismantled during this period to provide materials for the repair of the main line. The outbreak of the Sino–Vietnamese War in 1979 resulted in the closing of borders, including railways; particularly, the railway bridge that connected Lao Cai and Hekou on the Yunnan–Vietnam line was destroyed by sabotage during the conflict. Rail traffic between the two countries would eventually resume in 1992.
Network
The Vietnamese railway network has a total length of 2600 kilometres (1,615.6 mi), dominated by the North-South line running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City; as of 2007, 85% of the network's passenger volume and 60% of its cargo volume was transported along this line. There were 278 stations on the Vietnamese railway network as of 2005, 191 of which were located along the North-South line.
Several railway lines have been proposed for construction in Vietnam in recent years. The largest such project is the high-speed
High-speed rail
High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...
North-South Express Railway
North-South Express Railway (Vietnam)
North-South Express Railway is a proposed express railway in Vietnam. The line would begin in Hanoi, crossing provinces and municipalities of Hà Nội, Hà Tây, Hà Nam, Ninh Bình, Thanh Hoá, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Đà Nẵng, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên,...
connecting Ha Noi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
, (see High-speed rail, below) valued at approximately US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
56 billion. Due to its cost, plans for the line are currently on hold pending further study of the project. Other projects involve the restoration of previously existing lines, such as the Da Lat–Tháp Chàm and Ho Chi Minh City–Loc Ninh lines, both of which were originally built in the 1930s, but fell into disuse after decades of war. The proposed Ho Chi Minh City–Loc Ninh and Mu Gia–Vung Ang lines (both of which had either existed or been considered before World War II) would establish Vietnam's first international railway links to Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, respectively.
Current lines
| Description | Established | Length | Stations | Travel time | Gauge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North-South Railway | 1936 | 1726 km (1,072.5 mi) | 191 | 30 hrs | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
| Hanoi–Lao Cai | 1906 | 296 km (183.9 mi) | 40 | 10 hrs | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
| Hanoi–Dong Dang | 1902 | 163 km (101.3 mi) | 23 | 4.25 hrs | Mixed gauge Dual gauge A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail... |
| Kep–Ha Long | 1950s | 106 km (65.9 mi) | 12 | 4.5 hrs | Standard gauge Standard gauge The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge... |
| Hanoi–Haiphong | 1902 | 102 km (63.4 mi) | 18 | 2.5 hrs | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
| Hanoi–Thai Nguyen | 1962 | 75 km (46.6 mi) | 14 | ?? | Mixed gauge Dual gauge A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail... |
| Thai Nguyen–Kep | 1966 | 57 km (35.4 mi) | 6? | ?? | Standard gauge Standard gauge The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge... |
| Pho Lu–Xuan Giao | ?? | 11 km (6.8 mi) | ?? | ?? | ?? |
| Tien Kien–Bai Bang | ?? | 10.5 km (6.5 mi) | ?? | ?? | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
| Da Lat–Trai Mat Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway The Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway or Da Lat-Phan Rang Railway was an rack railway connecting the city of Da Lat to the main North-South Railway at Thap Cham in Ninh Thuan Province. It was established by the French administration of Indochina in 1932 after thirty years of construction in phases,... |
1932 | 7 km (4.3 mi) | 2 | ?? | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
| Tien Kien–Lam Thao | ?? | 4.1 km (2.5 mi) | ?? | ?? | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
Proposed lines
| Description | Length | Gauge | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| North-South Express Railway North-South Express Railway (Vietnam) North-South Express Railway is a proposed express railway in Vietnam. The line would begin in Hanoi, crossing provinces and municipalities of Hà Nội, Hà Tây, Hà Nam, Ninh Bình, Thanh Hoá, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Đà Nẵng, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên,... |
1570 km (975.6 mi) | Standard gauge Standard gauge The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge... |
See High-speed rail, below. |
| Da Lat–Thap Cham Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway The Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway or Da Lat-Phan Rang Railway was an rack railway connecting the city of Da Lat to the main North-South Railway at Thap Cham in Ninh Thuan Province. It was established by the French administration of Indochina in 1932 after thirty years of construction in phases,... |
127 km (78.9 mi) | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
Originally established in 1932. One section still in use; see Da Lat–Trai Mat above. |
| Ho Chi Minh City–Vung Tau | 110 km (68.4 mi) | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
|
| Di An–Loc Ninh | 100 km (62.1 mi) | ?? | Originally established in 1933, abandoned c.1959. See International links to Cambodia, below. |
| Mu Gia–Vung Ang | ?? | ?? | See International links to Laos, below. |
Defunct lines
| Description | Established | Length | Gauge | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phu Lang Thuong–Lang Son | 1895 | 31 km (19.3 mi) | 600mm Narrow gauge A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :... |
Refurbished and extended to create the Hanoi–Dong Dang line (see above). |
| Giat–Nghia Dan | — | 30 km (18.6 mi) | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
Line was left incomplete. |
| Gia Dinh–Hoc Mon | ?? | 20 km (12.4 mi) | ?? | |
| Tan Ap–Thakhek | — | 17.5 km (10.9 mi) | ?? | Line was left incomplete. |
| Don Dien Coudoux–Xom Cuc | 1960s | 17 km (10.6 mi) | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
|
| Dong Dang–Na Sam | 1921 | 15 km (9.3 mi) | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... or 600mm Narrow gauge A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :... |
|
| Mai Pha–Dong | ?? | 7 km (4.3 mi) | Standard gauge Standard gauge The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge... |
|
| Trang Bom–Ap Thanh Lam | — | ?? | ?? | Line was left incomplete. |
International railway links
ChinaThe railway link from Haiphong
Haiphong
, also Haiphong, is the third most populous city in Vietnam. The name means, "coastal defence".-History:Hai Phong was originally founded by Lê Chân, the female general of a Vietnamese revolution against the Chinese led by the Trưng Sisters in the year 43 C.E.The area which is now known as Duong...
to the Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
city of Kunming
Kunming
' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...
was originally built by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
administration of Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
in the early 20th century. The section within Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
is 389 km long (237 km between Hanoi and the border at Lao Cai
Lao Cai
Lào Cai is a city in northeastern Vietnam. It is the capital of Lao Cai province. The city borders the city of Hekou, in the Yunnan province of Southwest China. It lies at the junction of the Red River and the Nam Ti River approximately 160 miles northwest of Hanoi...
). The railway used gauge due to the mountainous terrain along the route. Currently, the line is the only main line in China using metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
, (or dual gauge
Dual gauge
A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail...
, since it can also be converted
Gauge conversion
In rail transport, gauge conversion is the process of converting a railway from one rail gauge to another, through the alteration of the railway tracks...
to standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
). Railway service along the Chinese portion of the route is currently suspended. Cross-border service was available until 2002, when floods and landslides, which frequently caused delays along the route, caused serious damage to the tracks on the Chinese side. The railway will form the Chinese part of the Singapore-Kunming Rail Link, which is expected to be completed in 2015.
Railway access to Nanning
Nanning
Nanning is the capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush tropical foliage.-History:...
is done through the border at Dong Dang, in Lang Son Province
Lạng Sơn Province
Lạng Sơn is a province in far northern Vietnam, bordering Guangxi province in China. Its capital is also called Lang Son, which is a strategically important town at the border with China and is northeast of Hanoi connected by rail and road...
. Regular service generally entails stopping at the border, changing from a Vietnamese metre-gauge train to a Chinese standard-gauge train, and continuing on to Nanning. Since 2009, a daily overnight service is available; the train departs from Hanoi's Gia Lam Railway Station
Gia Lam Railway Station
Gia Lam Railway Station is a railway station in Vietnam, in the north eastern Gia Lam district of Hanoi. It serves the city of Hanoi.It corresponds to the end of the normal gauge railway linking Vietnam to China ; the daily train to Nanning starts there rather than from the main Hanoi Railway...
, and runs on standard-gauge tracks all the way to Nanning.
Cambodia
There is currently no railway connection between Vietnam and Cambodia. The French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
administration of Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
originally built a railway from Saigon to Loc Ninh
Loc Ninh
Lộc Ninh is a town in southern Vietnam. It is a rural district of Binh Phuoc province in the southeastern region of Vietnam. A major battle, the Battle of Loc Ninh, occurred there during the Vietnam War.-Transport:...
in the 1930s, with the intent of extending it further into Cambodia. It was abandoned in 1945, at the start of the First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
. A new line connecting Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
to Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Located on the banks of the Mekong River, Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security,...
, Cambodia, was proposed as part of the Singapore–Kunming Rail Link project, overseen by the ASEAN–Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (AMBDC). The 129 km (80.2 mi) Vietnamese portion of the line would begin with a junction of the North-South Railway
North-South Railway, Vietnam
The Vietnam North-South Railway, also known as the Reunification Express, is a railway that runs from Ha Noi to Ho Chi Minh City. The total length of this railway is , with a gauge of metre gauge...
at Di An Railway Station
Di An Railway Station
Di An Railway Station is a railway station on the North-South Railway line in Vietnam. It serves the town of Di An in Binh Duong Province....
, and would end in Lộc Ninh
Loc Ninh
Lộc Ninh is a town in southern Vietnam. It is a rural district of Binh Phuoc province in the southeastern region of Vietnam. A major battle, the Battle of Loc Ninh, occurred there during the Vietnam War.-Transport:...
, Binh Phuoc Province
Binh Phuoc Province
Bình Phước is a province of Vietnam. It is located in the southeastern region of the country, to the north of Ho Chi Minh City. It shares a border with Cambodia.-History:...
, close to the Cambodian border. According to the plan established by ASEAN, this stretch is scheduled for completion by 2020.
Laos
There is currently no railway connection between Vietnam and Laos. In 2007, the Laotian Ministry of Transportation entered into discussion with Vietnam to discuss the possibility of opening a new railway line from Thakhek
Thakhek
Thakhek is a town in south-central Laos on the Mekong River and facing Nakhon Phanom across the river in northeastern Thailand. It is the capital of Khammouane province....
in Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
through the Mu Gia Pass
Mu Gia Pass
The Mu Gia Pass is a mountain pass in the Annamite Range between northern Vietnam and Laos, located 90 km northwest of Đồng Hới, Vietnam. The pass is 418 m above sea level and connects Route 15 from Tân Ấp in Vietnam to Route 12 in Khammouane Province in Laos....
to Tan Ap Railway Station
Tan Ap Railway Station
Tan Ap Railway Station is a railway station on the North-South Railway line in Vietnam. It serves the town of Tân Ấp in Quang Binh Province. From 1933, the station also served as a terminus of the Tan Ap - Xom Cuc railway, the only stretch of railway opened as part of the aborted Thakhek - Tan Ap...
in Quang Binh Province
Quang Binh Province
Quảng Bình , formerly Tiên Bình under the reign of Le Trung Hung of the Lê Dynasty, this province was renamed Quảng Bình in 1604) is a province in the North Central Coast of Vietnam....
, connecting to the national railway at Vung Ang, a port in Ha Tinh Province which the Vietnamese Government plans to expand. This would revive, in part, an earlier but aborted scheme, the Thakhek - Tan Ap railway. According to plans established by ASEAN, the line may be extended via Thakhek all the way to the Laotian capital Vientiane
Vientiane
-Geography:Vientiane is situated on a bend of the Mekong river, which forms the border with Thailand at this point.-Climate:Vientiane features a tropical wet and dry climate with a distinct monsoon season and a dry season. Vientiane’s dry season spans from November through March. April marks the...
. Both Laos and Thailand have expressed interest in the project as a shorter export gateway to the Pacific Ocean.
High-speed rail
Vietnam Railways
The railway system in Vietnam is operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways . The principal route is the thousand-mile single track North-South Railway line, running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This was built at the metre gauge in the 1880s during the French colonial rule...
has proposed a high-speed rail
High-speed rail
High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...
link between Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
, capable of running at speeds of 300 km/h (186 mph). Funding for the line would come mainly from the Vietnamese government, with Japanese aid in the form of official development assistance
Official development assistance
Official development assistance is a term compiled by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to measure aid. The DAC first compiled the term in 1969. It is widely used by academics and journalists as a convenient indicator of...
(ODA). Current technology allows trains travelling on the current, single-track Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City line
North-South Railway, Vietnam
The Vietnam North-South Railway, also known as the Reunification Express, is a railway that runs from Ha Noi to Ho Chi Minh City. The total length of this railway is , with a gauge of metre gauge...
to complete the journey in approximately thirty hours. Once completed, the high-speed rail line—using Japanese Shinkansen
Shinkansen
The , also known as THE BULLET TRAIN, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by four Japan Railways Group companies. Starting with the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in 1964, the network has expanded to currently consist of of lines with maximum speeds of , of Mini-shinkansen with a...
technology—would allow trains to complete the Hanoi–Ho Chi Minh City journey in less than six hours.
Vietnamese prime minister
Prime Minister of Vietnam
-Office:The Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the head of the executive branch of the Vietnamese government. The Prime Minister presides over the Vietnamese cabinet, and is responsible for appointing and supervising ministers...
Nguyen Tan Dung had originally set an ambitious target, approving a 1630 km (1,012.8 mi) line to be completed by 2013, with 70 percent of funding (initially estimated at US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
33 billion) coming from Japanese ODA, and the remaining 30 percent raised through loans. Later reports raised estimated costs to US$56 billion (almost 60 percent of Vietnam's GDP
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
in 2009) for a completion date in the mid-2030s. On June 19, 2010, after a month of deliberation, Vietnam's National Assembly rejected the high speed rail proposal due to its high cost; National Assembly deputies had asked for further study of the project.
Ho Chi Minh City Metro
A rapid transitRapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
network to serve Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
was first proposed in 2001 as part of a comprehensive public transport network plan including Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring provinces. The project is managed by the city's Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), a government unit working directly under the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. The city’s plan envisages developing three monorail
Monorail
A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...
or light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
lines with a total length of 37 kilometres (23 mi) and six underground metro
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
routes with a total length of 107 kilometres (66.5 mi). The network's first line, connecting Bến Thành Market
Ben Thanh Market
Ben Thanh Market is a big marketplace in the downtown area of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in District 1...
and Suoi Tien Park
Suoi Tien Amusement Park
Suoi Tien Amusement Park is an amusement park in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The park includes several entertainment areas. The landscaping and attractions in the park illustrate Vietnam's history and legends, such as Au Co and Lac Long Quan as well as the Battle of Son Tinh and Thuy Tinh...
in District 9
District 9, Ho Chi Minh City
District 9 is an urban district of Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam. As of 2003 the district had a population of 166,680. The district covers an area of 114 km².-References:...
, is scheduled for completion in 2015, and a second line between Bến Thành Market
Ben Thanh Market
Ben Thanh Market is a big marketplace in the downtown area of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in District 1...
and Tham Luong in District 12
District 12, Ho Chi Minh City
District 12 is an urban district of Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam.As of 2003 the district had a population of 239,610...
is due to begin construction in August 2010, scheduled for completion in 2016. Other proposed lines include: a Bến Thành Market
Ben Thanh Market
Ben Thanh Market is a big marketplace in the downtown area of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in District 1...
–Binh Tan line via Cholon
Cholon, Ho Chi Minh City
Chợ Lớn is a Chinese-influenced section of Ho Chi Minh City . It is the largest Chinatown in Vietnam. It lies on the west bank of the Saigon River, having Binh Tay Market as its central market. Cholon consists of the western half of District 5 as well as several adjoining neighborhoods in District...
; a line running from Lang Cha Ca in Tan Binh district to Van Thanh Park in Binh Thanh district; a line connecting Thu Thiem
Thu Thiem New Urban Area
The Thu Thiem New Urban Area is an urban project in District 2, Ho Chi Minh City . It is currently under construction.-Location:...
in District 2
District 2, Ho Chi Minh City
District 2, in which the new province of Thu Thiem is located, is a district of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, with the most potential.In the past, District 2 has been one of the poorest parts of Ho Chi Minh City due to the separation of the Saigon River. However, it is now the new hope for the...
with Can Giuoc in District 8
District 8, Ho Chi Minh City
District 8 is an urban district of Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam.As of 2003 the district had a population of 342,278. The district covers an area of 19 km².-References:...
; and a line stretching from Ba Queo in Tan Binh district to Phu Lam in District 6
District 6, Ho Chi Minh City
District 6 is an urban district of Ho Chi Minh City, which is the largest city in Vietnam. As of 2003 the district had a population of 283,794. The district covers an area of 6 km².-References:...
.
Hanoi Metro
In July 2008, Vietnamese Prime MinisterPrime Minister of Vietnam
-Office:The Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the head of the executive branch of the Vietnamese government. The Prime Minister presides over the Vietnamese cabinet, and is responsible for appointing and supervising ministers...
Nguyễn Tấn Dũng approved an overall transport development plan for Hanoi, which, among other projects, proposed a rapid transit
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
system with five routes. The project is being carried out by the Hanoi Metropolitan Rail Transport Project Board (HRB). As of spring 2009, projects for four lines were under consideration: the Nho–Hanoi Railway Station (the "pilot" line), the Nam Thang Long–Tran Hung Dao line, the Cat Linh–Ha Dong line, and the Yen Vien–Ngoc Hoi line. The Nho–Hanoi Railway Station, Cat Linh–Ha Dong and Yen Vien–Ngoc Hoi lines are currently in the research phase. Technical studies of the system were expected to be completed in 2009. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has confirmed that the Nam Thang Long–Tran Hung Dao line would begin construction in mid-2011, to be completed in 2014 for full operation by 2016.
Infrastructure
Most of Vietnam's railway infrastructure—including bridges, rail trucks, track beds, rollingstocks, signals and communication equipment, and maintenance facilities—has suffered severe deterioration, mainly due to damage inflicted during the Vietnam War and a subsequent lack of capital investment and maintenance. More recently, rehabilitation projects sustained by official development assistance
Official development assistance
Official development assistance is a term compiled by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to measure aid. The DAC first compiled the term in 1969. It is widely used by academics and journalists as a convenient indicator of...
have allowed the most critical pieces of infrastructure along the line to be replaced, although much work still remains to be done.
Tracks
Most existing Vietnamese railway lines use metre gaugeMetre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
, although standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
and mixed gauge are used northeast of Hanoi. As of 2005, approximately 2600 km (1,615.6 mi) of track was in use throughout Vietnam:
metre gauge ; standard gauge ; and mixed gauge ( and ).
Besides active tracks, around 506 km (314.4 mi) of tracks are in use as siding, bringing the total to 3106 km (1,930 mi) of track laid nationwide.
Bridges
Vietnam Railways reports the number of railway bridges along the North–South line to be 1,300, totalling about 28000 m (91,863.5 ft), or about 63% of the national total. Considering both standard rail bridges and combined bridges, the total length along the North–South line is about 36000 m (118,110.2 ft). Many of the railway bridges were severely worn from age and sport damage dating from the Vietnam War, despite their restoration following the war. As of 2007, 278 bridges requiring major rehabilitation remain along the North–South Railway line. Throughout the entire Vietnamese rail network, Vietnam Railways reports a total of 1,790 railway bridges, with a total length of 45368 m (148,845.1 ft).Tunnels
There are 27 railway tunnels along the North–South line, amounting to a total length of 8335 m (27,345.8 ft). Throughout the entire Vietnamese rail network, Vietnam Railways report a total of 39 tunnels with a combined length of 11512 m (37,769 ft). Certain tunnels are inadequately drained and suffer from deterioration in the tunnel lining, causing water leaks that necessitate reductions in speed.Signalling
The North–South Railway line uses a semi-automatic block system, which allows individual signals to work either as automatic signalsAutomatic Block Signal
Automatic Block Signaling, or ABS, is a block system that consists of a series of signals that divide a railway line into a series of blocks and then functions to control the movement of trains between them through automatic signals...
or manual signals. These replace the token
Token (railway signalling)
In railway signalling, a token is a physical object which a locomotive driver is required to have or see before entering onto a particular section of single track. The token is clearly endorsed with the name of the section it belongs to...
method used in earlier years. According to a joint Japanese-Vietnamese evaluation team, the recent installation of additional auto-signal systems at key crossings along the line has contributed to a decline in railway accidents. Semaphore signals
Railway semaphore signal
One of the earliest forms of fixed railway signal is the semaphore. These signals display their different indications to train drivers by changing the angle of inclination of a pivoted 'arm'. Semaphore signals were patented in the early 1840s by Joseph James Stevens, and soon became the most...
were once used throughout the Vietnamese rail network, but these are gradually being replaced with colour light signals; most of the railway lines in northern Vietnam have been converted.
According to Vietnam Railways, automatic warning systems have been installed at 230 level crossings throughout the country.
Communications
Since 1998, microband Asynchronous Transfer ModeAsynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a standard switching technique designed to unify telecommunication and computer networks. It uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing, and it encodes data into small, fixed-sized cells. This differs from approaches such as the Internet Protocol or Ethernet that...
technology has been used along the North–South Railway line to send television signals; 64 kbps transmission lines are leased from the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VPTC). Along some sections of the line—for example, from Hanoi to Vinh and from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City—a fiber optic cable network has been deployed; Vietnam Railways intends to extend the network along the remaining distance from Vinh to Nha Trang. A switching system featuring digital exchanges is in place, connected via the existing transmission system and the public telephone network. As the modernization of the telecommunication system progresses, manual exchanges are gradually being replaced with digital exchanges.
Sewers
The Vietnamese rail network includes 4,860 sewers, with a total length of 71439 m (234,379.9 ft).Safety
The overall condition of railway infrastructure in Vietnam varies from poor to fair; most of the network remains in need of rehabilitation and upgrading, having received only temporary repair from damages suffered during decades of war. A joint Japanese-Vietnamese evaluation team found that the poor state of railway infrastructure was the fundamental cause for most railway accidents, of which the most common types are train crashes against vehicles and persons, especially at illegal level crossings; derailmentDerailment
A derailment is an accident on a railway or tramway in which a rail vehicle, or part or all of a train, leaves the tracks on which it is travelling, with consequent damage and in many cases injury and/or death....
s caused by failure to decrease speed was also noted as a common cause of accidents.
The Vietnamese railway network is crossed by many roads in several crowded areas; as a result, accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians have occurred. In the first 10 months of 2009, 431 railway accidents reportedly took place throughout Vietnam, causing 166 casualties and injuring 319 people. A researcher from Villanova University
Villanova University
Villanova University is a private university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
noted "There are numerous safety issues with level crossings
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
ing and bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
s are often swept away, causing lengthy closures.
Along with recent efforts aimed at infrastructure rehabilitation, the recent adoption of safety measures by Vietnam Railways has led to a decline in railway accidents. These measures include: public awareness campaigns on railway safety in the media; construction of fences and safety barriers at critical level crossings in major cities; mobilization of volunteers for traffic control at train stations and level crossings, especially during holiday seasons; the installation of additional auto-signal systems; and the construction of flyovers
Overpass
An overpass is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway...
and underpass
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...
es to redirect traffic.
Railway management
The Vietnamese railway network is owned and operated by the state-owned enterprise Vietnam Railways
Vietnam Railways
The railway system in Vietnam is operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways . The principal route is the thousand-mile single track North-South Railway line, running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This was built at the metre gauge in the 1880s during the French colonial rule...
(VNR), which operates a number of different subsidiaries involved in construction, communications, training, and other activities connected to railway maintenance. Following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the newly reunified Vietnamese railway network was centrally managed by the precursor of VNR, the government's Department of Railways. Initially, low rail tariffs and the poor state of infrastructure used in other modes of transport led to high usage, but revenue proved to be insufficient to cover the railway's operating costs. In 1986, the Government's implementation of Doi Moi economic reforms led to the deregulation of the transport sector and the shift towards a market-led economy, forcing the railways to change in order to maintain a competitive edge. The Department of Railways was reorganized into Vietnam Railways in 1989; since that time, railway reform has passed through a number of stages. Responsibility for rail infrastructure and operations were separated by government decree in 1994. The government of Germany began providing assistance with the restructuring of the railway sector in 2000, allowing VNR to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations, thus increasing its competitiveness. In 2003, VNR was re-organized as a state corporation, the Vietnam Railway Corporation, operating in railway transport and related services; railway administration and infrastructure management were given to the Vietnam Railway Administration, under the authority of the Ministry of Transport. A Railway Law was passed by the National Assembly on 19 May 2005; although regulations for the law's implementation have yet to be issued, it does provide a strong basis for further sector development; among other things, it proposed that foreign investors
Foreign direct investment
Foreign direct investment or foreign investment refers to the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor.. It is the sum of equity capital,other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in...
be invited to invest in Vietnam Railways.
See also
- Transport in VietnamTransport in Vietnam- Railways :The Vietnamese railway network has a total length of , dominated by the single track North-South Railway running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The national railway network uses mainly metre gauge, although there are several standard gauge and mixed gauge lines in the North of the...
- Ho Chi Minh City MetroHo Chi Minh City MetroThe Ho Chi Minh City Metro is a proposed rapid transit network that will serve Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. The network was first proposed in 2001 as part of a comprehensive public transport network plan including Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring provinces, with the aim of avoiding the severe...
- Gia Lam Train CompanyGia Lam Train CompanyGia Lam Train Company is a Vietnamese railcar manufacturer. The company supplies cars to Vietnam Railways. Gia Lam is also the name of the main station in Hanoi, and also an airport.-Products:* Air suspension bogie for coach* Bogie for coach...
- Vietnam RailwaysVietnam RailwaysThe railway system in Vietnam is operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways . The principal route is the thousand-mile single track North-South Railway line, running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This was built at the metre gauge in the 1880s during the French colonial rule...
External links
- Official Website of Vietnam Railways
- Ministry of Transport, Vietnam
- Collected postcards depicting the Railways of Indochina. Society of Indo-China Philatelists.
Maps
- Detailed Railway Map. Daumaytoaxe.com.
- World Bank transport map
The railway system in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
is owned and operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways
Vietnam Railways
The railway system in Vietnam is operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways . The principal route is the thousand-mile single track North-South Railway line, running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This was built at the metre gauge in the 1880s during the French colonial rule...
. The principal route, the single track
Single track (rail)
A single track railway is where trains in both directions share the same track. Single track is normally used on lesser used rail lines, often branch lines, where the traffic density is not high enough to justify the cost of building double tracks....
North-South Railway running between Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
, accounts for 1726 kilometres (1,072.5 mi) of the network's total length of 2600 kilometres (1,615.6 mi). The national railway network uses mainly metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
, although there are several standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
and mixed gauge lines in the North of the country.
Summary
The first railways in Vietnam were established in the 1880s; these included a tramTram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
running between the ports of Saigon
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
and Cholon, and a regional rail
Regional rail
Commuter rail, also called suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates between a city center, and the middle to outer suburbs beyond 15km and commuter towns or other locations that draw large numbers of commuters—people who travel on a daily basis...
line connecting Saigon with My Tho. Railway construction flourished soon afterwards, during the administration of Paul Doumer
Paul Doumer
Joseph Athanase Paul Doumer, commonly known as Paul Doumer was the President of France from 13 June 1931 until his assassination.-Biography:...
as Governor-General of French Indochina
Governor-General of French Indochina
-External links:*...
from 1897 to 1902. It was during this time that construction of the Yunnan–Vietnam and North–South railways began. Construction of the North-South line took over thirty years, finally beginning operation in 1936, during which time other branch lines were also completed. Beginning in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the entire rail network became a target of bombing attacks by a number of groups, including both North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
ese and South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
ese troops during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Although the main lines—particularly the North–South line—were quickly restored and returned to service once conflict ended, many branch lines were abandoned and dismantled at their expense, their infrastructure used to replace damaged sections of the main lines, or sold as scrap
Scrap Metal
Scrap Metal were a band from Broome, Western Australia who played rock music with elements of country and reggae. The members had Aboriginal, Irish, Filipino, French, Chinese, Scottish, Indonesian and Japanese heritage. The band toured nationally as part of the Bran Nue Dae musical and with...
.
With increased economic growth brought on by the Doi Moi reforms of the late 1980s, the railway system has entered a renewed phase of development. A number of major projects supported by official development assistance
Official development assistance
Official development assistance is a term compiled by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to measure aid. The DAC first compiled the term in 1969. It is widely used by academics and journalists as a convenient indicator of...
have been proposed or are currently underway, including a series of projects to improve bridge and railway safety on the North-South Railway line, connections to Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, and the restoration of a number of defunct lines, including the Đà Lạt–Tháp Chàm railway
Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway
The Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway or Da Lat-Phan Rang Railway was an rack railway connecting the city of Da Lat to the main North-South Railway at Thap Cham in Ninh Thuan Province. It was established by the French administration of Indochina in 1932 after thirty years of construction in phases,...
first established in the 1930s. A high-speed rail link
North-South Express Railway (Vietnam)
North-South Express Railway is a proposed express railway in Vietnam. The line would begin in Hanoi, crossing provinces and municipalities of Hà Nội, Hà Tây, Hà Nam, Ninh Bình, Thanh Hoá, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Đà Nẵng, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên,...
between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City has also been proposed, which would reduce journey length from 30 hours to around 6 hours.
Usage
Rail transport remains relatively underused as a mode of transport in Vietnam. While road transport dominates the transport sector by far—accounting for 65% of freight moved as of 2006—rail transport accounted for only 4% of freight transportation in 2008, and 5% of passenger transportation, leading it to be considered the "least relevant" of all modes of transport in the European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
's 2010 Green Book
Green paper
In the Commonwealth, the Republic of Ireland and the United States a green paper is a tentative government report of a proposal without any commitment to action; the first step in changing the law...
on Vietnam. According to reports by the Asian Development Bank
Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 22 August 1966 to facilitate economic development of countries in Asia...
, however, the role of rail transport is growing, carving out a significant role for itself in long-distance bulk cargo transport.
The following table gives an overview of rail transport volume and traffic over the period from 1998–2008:
| Transport type | 1998 | 2000 | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freight volume (kt) | 4977.6 | 6258.2 | 7051.9 | 8873.6 | 9153.2 | 8481.1 |
| Freight traffic (Mt-km) | 1369.0 | 1955.0 | 2391.5 | 2745.3 | 3446.6 | 4170.9 |
| Passenger volume (Mpeople) | 9.7 | 9.8 | 10.8 | 12.9 | 11.6 | 11.3 |
| Passenger traffic (Mpeople-km) | 2542.3 | 3199.9 | 3697.2 | 4376.3 | 4333.7 | 4560.4 |
Colonial beginnings
Rail transport was introduced to Vietnam in the 1880s, supported by the FrenchFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
administration of Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
. The earliest rail project to be completed was the Saigon–Cholon tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
way, established in 1881 in what was then Cochinchina
Cochinchina
Cochinchina is a region encompassing the southern third of Vietnam whose principal city is Saigon. It was a French colony from 1862 to 1954. The later state of South Vietnam was created in 1954 by combining Cochinchina with southern Annam. In Vietnamese, the region is called Nam Bộ...
, operated by the Cochinchina Steam Tramway Company (SGTVC). After a month of operation, the Lieutenant Governor of Cochinchina noted that ridership had already reached two thousand passengers. Construction of the first regional rail
Regional rail
Commuter rail, also called suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates between a city center, and the middle to outer suburbs beyond 15km and commuter towns or other locations that draw large numbers of commuters—people who travel on a daily basis...
project, linking Saigon
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
and My Tho, began in the same year, to be completed soon afterwards in 1885. The Saigon–My Tho line reduced travel time between the two cities from 12 hours to only 3 hours, and established a connection between Saigon and the shipping lanes of the Mekong Delta
Mekong Delta
The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of . The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.The...
. The first railway in Tonkin
Tonkin
Tonkin , also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is the northernmost part of Vietnam, south of China's Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces, east of northern Laos, and west of the Gulf of Tonkin. Locally, it is known as Bắc Kỳ, meaning "Northern Region"...
, a gauge line connecting Lang Son
Lang Son
Lạng Sơn , sometimes Langson, is a city in far northern Vietnam, is the capital of Lang Son province. It is accessible by road and rail from Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, and it is the northernmost point on National Road 1A.-History:...
to Phu Lang Thuong (now known as Bac Giang
Bac Giang
Bắc Giang is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of the Bac Giang province. Its name, deriving from Sino-Vietnamese, means "north of the river." Bac Giang was formerly a sister city with Madison, Wisconsin, United States....
), was established in 1895.
Railway construction multiplied during the administration of Paul Doumer
Paul Doumer
Joseph Athanase Paul Doumer, commonly known as Paul Doumer was the President of France from 13 June 1931 until his assassination.-Biography:...
as Governor-General of French Indochina
Governor-General of French Indochina
-External links:*...
from 1897 to 1902. Doumer's predecessor, Jean Marie de Lanessan
Jean Marie Antoine de Lanessan
Jean Marie Antoine de Lanessan was a French statesman and naturalist.-Biography:De Lanessan was born in Saint-André-de-Cubzac in the Gironde department of France and entered the French Navy in 1862, serving on the East African and Cochin-China stations in the medical department until the...
, had been convinced of the necessity of building railways to connect the different parts of Indochina, and had identified certain key routes that should be built as a matter of priority; among these, a route connecting Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Saigon, and another connecting Hanoi and Lao Cai
Lao Cai
Lào Cai is a city in northeastern Vietnam. It is the capital of Lao Cai province. The city borders the city of Hekou, in the Yunnan province of Southwest China. It lies at the junction of the Red River and the Nam Ti River approximately 160 miles northwest of Hanoi...
. In 1897, Doumer submitted an overarching proposal for railway development in Indochina, including plans for what would eventually become the Yunnan–Vietnam Railway and the North–South Railway
North-South Railway, Vietnam
The Vietnam North-South Railway, also known as the Reunification Express, is a railway that runs from Ha Noi to Ho Chi Minh City. The total length of this railway is , with a gauge of metre gauge...
. The French government approved the construction of the entire Yunnan line and several sections of the North–South line, approving a loan of 200 million francs within the following year. Work began swiftly thereafter, with the Phu Lang Thuong—Lang Son line being upgraded and extended from Hanoi to the Chinese border at Dong Dang by 1902, and the first section of the Yunnan line between Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Haiphong
Haiphong
, also Haiphong, is the third most populous city in Vietnam. The name means, "coastal defence".-History:Hai Phong was originally founded by Lê Chân, the female general of a Vietnamese revolution against the Chinese led by the Trưng Sisters in the year 43 C.E.The area which is now known as Duong...
opening in the same year.
Long Bien Bridge
Long Bien Bridge is a historic cantilever bridge across the Red River that connects two parts of the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. It was originally called Paul Doumer Bridge.- History :...
) in 1902, the largest bridge in Southeast Asia at that time. Construction on the Yunnan line continued northwestward towards the border town of Lao Cai, opening in segments beginning in 1903; the entire Hanoi–Lao Cai line was finally opened in 1906. Finally, in 1910, the line was extended to its final destination of Kunming
Kunming
' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...
. Construction of the Yunnan line was an extremely difficult undertaking, incurring not only great expenditures but also a great loss of human life. At least 12,000 labourers died from malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
or accidents, 10,000 of these in the Nam-ti Valley alone.
Construction of the North–South Railway began in 1899, and lasted over thirty years, with individual sections completed serially: from 1899 to 1905, the Hanoi–Vinh
Vinh
Vinh is a city in Vietnam. It is located in the northern half of the country, and is the capital of Nghệ An Province. Politically, Vinh is a municipality within Nghệ An Province. On September 5th, 2008, it was upgraded from Grade-II city to Grade-I city, the fourth Grade-I city of Vietnam after...
section was laid down, followed by the Nha Trang–Saigon section from 1905 to 1913, then the Vinh–Huế
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
section from 1913 to 1927, and finally, the remaining Huế–Nha Trang
Nha Trang
Nha Trang is a coastal city and capital of Khanh Hoa province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the North by Ninh Hoà district, on the East by the South China Sea, on the South by Cam Ranh town and on the West by Diên Khánh district...
section from 1930 to 1936. On 2 October 1936, the entire 1726 km (1,072.5 mi) Hanoi–Saigon link was formally put into full operation. The first journeys from end to end of the newly completed line, dubbed the Transindochinois, generally took about 60 hours, or two days and three nights. This decreased to about 40 hours by the late 1930s, with trains travelling at an average speed of 43 kph.
Wartime
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
in 1937, the railway into Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
served as a channel for arms shipments to the Chinese Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
. French refusal to halt shipments of arms and other war-related goods to China through Tonkin eventually provoked the Invasion of French Indochina by Japanese forces in 1940. The Japanese used the railway system extensively during their occupation, inviting sabotage by the Viet Minh
Viet Minh
Việt Minh was a national independence coalition formed at Pac Bo on May 19, 1941. The Việt Minh initially formed to seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. When the Japanese occupation began, the Việt Minh opposed Japan with support from the United States and the Republic of China...
as well as airborne Allied bombing raids. The railways sustained considerable damage, including the destruction of bridges.
Shortly after World War II ended, the First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
began, and the Viet Minh's sabotage of the rail system continued, this time against the armies of the French Union
French Union
The French Union was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial system, the "French Empire" and to abolish its "indigenous" status.-History:...
. The French returned several sections of the railway to full operation, allowing trains to circulate freely from Saigon to Ninh Hoa, Saigon to Loc Ninh
Loc Ninh
Lộc Ninh is a town in southern Vietnam. It is a rural district of Binh Phuoc province in the southeastern region of Vietnam. A major battle, the Battle of Loc Ninh, occurred there during the Vietnam War.-Transport:...
, Saigon to My Tho and Hue to Tourane (Da Nang) by the end of 1947. The sections lying between Nha Trang
Nha Trang
Nha Trang is a coastal city and capital of Khanh Hoa province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the North by Ninh Hoà district, on the East by the South China Sea, on the South by Cam Ranh town and on the West by Diên Khánh district...
and Tourane and north of Hue were judged to be too insecure to be returned to service at the time.
Early in the conflict, the Viet Minh's sabotage attempts failed to seriously damage the French railways, and most trains circulated without much protection. Beginning in 1947, however, the Viet Minh began to use mines, with circulation slowing to a crawl as they became more and more powerful. In response, the French began using the armed armoured train
Armoured train
An armoured train is a train protected with armour. They are usually equipped with railroad cars armed with artillery and machine guns. They were mostly used during the late 19th and early 20th century, when they offered an innovative way to quickly move large amounts of firepower...
La Rafale as both a cargo-carrier and a mobile surveillance unit. In February 1951 the first Rafale was in service on the Saigon-Nha Trang section of the North–South line, manned by the 2e Etranger (French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
). Use of the Rafale failed to deter the Viet Minh, however, who continued sabotaging the line, making off with its rails under cover of night and using them to create a new 300 kilometres (186.4 mi) rail network between Ninh Hoa and Da Nang, in a Viet Minh-controlled area. In 1954, following the signature of the Geneva Accords
Geneva Conference (1954)
The Geneva Conference was a conference which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, whose purpose was to attempt to find a way to unify Korea and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina...
and the end of the First Indochina War, Vietnam—along with its railway system—was divided along the Ben Hai River
Ben Hai River
The Ben Hai River is a river in central Vietnam which became an important landmark in the partition of the country into a northern and a southern zone along the 17th parallel by the Geneva Accords of 1954...
in Quang Tri Province
Quang Tri Province
Quảng Trị is a province on the North Central Coast of Vietnam, north of the former imperial capital of Huế.-Geography:Located in North Central Vietnam, Quang Tri Province is surrounded by Quang Binh Province on the north, Thua Thien-Hue Province on the south, Savannakhet Province of Laos on the...
.
Throughout the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, the Vietnamese railway network—especially the North–South Railway—was a target of bombardments and sabotage by both North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese forces. In the South, American aid allowed the South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
ese government to reconstruct the main line between Saigon and Hue, and several branch lines were also completed. As reconstruction efforts advanced, however, bombardments and sabotage of the railways by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese intensified, reducing the transportation capacity and effectiveness of the railway, and eventually forcing the abandonment of many large sections of the track. In 1964, Typhoons Joan and Iris, the worst to strike Vietnam in sixty-five years, damaged the railway system even further, restricting operations to five separated segments. A second reconstruction effort, assisted again by the U.S. government, began in December 1966, and progressed in those areas where security was re-established. The system reopened 340 kilometers of main line in areas where security was restored.
In North Vietnam, American bombing of railways was concentrated on key targets such as bridges, both along the North–South Railway and along the lines north of Hanoi, such as the Hanoi–Lao Cai and Hanoi–Dong Dang lines. At several points during the war, American bombing severely hindered transport along both lines, on which the North Vietnamese depended for shipments from their Chinese allies. Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was the title of a gradual and sustained US 2nd Air Division , US Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force aerial bombardment campaign conducted against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 2 March 1965 until 1 November 1968, during the Vietnam War.The four objectives...
was the first large-scale bombing campaign carried out by the U.S. Air Force, taking place from March 2, 1965 until November 1, 1968, when US President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
temporarily called off air raids. Large-scale air raids resumed from May 9 to October 23, 1972, for Operation Linebacker
Operation Linebacker
Operation Linebacker was the title of a U.S. Seventh Air Force and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 aerial interdiction campaign conducted against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 9 May to 23 October 1972, during the Vietnam War....
, and again from December 18–29, 1972, for Operation Linebacker II
Operation Linebacker II
Operation Linebacker II was a US Seventh Air Force and US Navy Task Force 77 aerial bombing campaign, conducted against targets in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam during the final period of US involvement in the Vietnam War...
, with fewer target restrictions than Rolling Thunder.
Railway engineering troops from the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, deployed in late June 1965, were tasked with repairing the damage caused by the bombing. By late December of that year, reconstruction was complete on 363 kilometers of both the Hanoi–Lao Cai and Hanoi–Dong Dang lines, significantly increasing shipping capacity. A third rail was added to the existing lines, using standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
spacing, effectively converting them to mixed gauge lines. This allowed Chinese trains to connect directly with the Vietnamese railway network, without the need for a break-of-gauge. Many new stations, bridges and tunnels were also built, and an entirely new rail line, the Thai Nguyen–Kep line, was built as a strategic connection between the Hanoi–Dong Dang and Hanoi–Thai Nguyen lines.
Thanh Hoa Bridge
The Thanh Hoa Bridge, spanning the Song Ma river, is situated northeast of Thanh Hóa , the capital of Thanh Hoa province in Vietnam. The Vietnamese gave it the nickname Ham Rong . In 1965 during the Vietnam war, it was the objective of many attacks by US Air Force and US Navy aircraft which would...
, a well-defended combined road/rail bridge along the main line in Thanh Hoa Province. The bridge was attacked several times from 1965 to 1972. Several times, traffic over the bridge was interrupted, but every time, the North Vietnamese were able to repair the damage. The bridge was eventually destroyed by laser-guided smart bomb
Smart bomb
Smart bomb has several meanings:* In weapons, a smart bomb is a precision-guided munition* Smart Bomb Interactive, a video game development studio based in Salt Lake City, Utah...
s during separate raids on April 27 and May 13, 1972, as part of Operation Linebacker.
After the Fall of Saigon
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...
on 30 April 1975, the Communist government of the newly unified Vietnam took control of the former South Vietnamese railway. The heavily damaged, war-torn North–South line was restored and returned to service on 31 December 1976, promoted as a symbol of Vietnamese unity. In the short time between the surrender of the South and the reopening of the line, 1334 bridges, 27 tunnels, 158 stations and 1370 switches had been repaired. Other railway lines that once existed, such as the Da Lat-Thap Cham
Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm
Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm, also called Panduranga, is a new city in Vietnam and the capital of Ninh Thuan province. The community has a population of 161,000 , of which 91,000 live in the main city....
line, were dismantled during this period to provide materials for the repair of the main line. The outbreak of the Sino–Vietnamese War in 1979 resulted in the closing of borders, including railways; particularly, the railway bridge that connected Lao Cai and Hekou on the Yunnan–Vietnam line was destroyed by sabotage during the conflict. Rail traffic between the two countries would eventually resume in 1992.
Network
The Vietnamese railway network has a total length of 2600 kilometres (1,615.6 mi), dominated by the North-South line running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City; as of 2007, 85% of the network's passenger volume and 60% of its cargo volume was transported along this line. There were 278 stations on the Vietnamese railway network as of 2005, 191 of which were located along the North-South line.
Several railway lines have been proposed for construction in Vietnam in recent years. The largest such project is the high-speed
High-speed rail
High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...
North-South Express Railway
North-South Express Railway (Vietnam)
North-South Express Railway is a proposed express railway in Vietnam. The line would begin in Hanoi, crossing provinces and municipalities of Hà Nội, Hà Tây, Hà Nam, Ninh Bình, Thanh Hoá, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Đà Nẵng, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên,...
connecting Ha Noi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
, (see High-speed rail, below) valued at approximately US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
56 billion. Due to its cost, plans for the line are currently on hold pending further study of the project. Other projects involve the restoration of previously existing lines, such as the Da Lat–Tháp Chàm and Ho Chi Minh City–Loc Ninh lines, both of which were originally built in the 1930s, but fell into disuse after decades of war. The proposed Ho Chi Minh City–Loc Ninh and Mu Gia–Vung Ang lines (both of which had either existed or been considered before World War II) would establish Vietnam's first international railway links to Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, respectively.
Current lines
| Description | Established | Length | Stations | Travel time | Gauge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North-South Railway | 1936 | 1726 km (1,072.5 mi) | 191 | 30 hrs | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
| Hanoi–Lao Cai | 1906 | 296 km (183.9 mi) | 40 | 10 hrs | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
| Hanoi–Dong Dang | 1902 | 163 km (101.3 mi) | 23 | 4.25 hrs | Mixed gauge Dual gauge A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail... |
| Kep–Ha Long | 1950s | 106 km (65.9 mi) | 12 | 4.5 hrs | Standard gauge Standard gauge The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge... |
| Hanoi–Haiphong | 1902 | 102 km (63.4 mi) | 18 | 2.5 hrs | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
| Hanoi–Thai Nguyen | 1962 | 75 km (46.6 mi) | 14 | ?? | Mixed gauge Dual gauge A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail... |
| Thai Nguyen–Kep | 1966 | 57 km (35.4 mi) | 6? | ?? | Standard gauge Standard gauge The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge... |
| Pho Lu–Xuan Giao | ?? | 11 km (6.8 mi) | ?? | ?? | ?? |
| Tien Kien–Bai Bang | ?? | 10.5 km (6.5 mi) | ?? | ?? | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
| Da Lat–Trai Mat Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway The Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway or Da Lat-Phan Rang Railway was an rack railway connecting the city of Da Lat to the main North-South Railway at Thap Cham in Ninh Thuan Province. It was established by the French administration of Indochina in 1932 after thirty years of construction in phases,... |
1932 | 7 km (4.3 mi) | 2 | ?? | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
| Tien Kien–Lam Thao | ?? | 4.1 km (2.5 mi) | ?? | ?? | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
Proposed lines
| Description | Length | Gauge | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| North-South Express Railway North-South Express Railway (Vietnam) North-South Express Railway is a proposed express railway in Vietnam. The line would begin in Hanoi, crossing provinces and municipalities of Hà Nội, Hà Tây, Hà Nam, Ninh Bình, Thanh Hoá, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Đà Nẵng, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên,... |
1570 km (975.6 mi) | Standard gauge Standard gauge The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge... |
See High-speed rail, below. |
| Da Lat–Thap Cham Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway The Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway or Da Lat-Phan Rang Railway was an rack railway connecting the city of Da Lat to the main North-South Railway at Thap Cham in Ninh Thuan Province. It was established by the French administration of Indochina in 1932 after thirty years of construction in phases,... |
127 km (78.9 mi) | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
Originally established in 1932. One section still in use; see Da Lat–Trai Mat above. |
| Ho Chi Minh City–Vung Tau | 110 km (68.4 mi) | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
|
| Di An–Loc Ninh | 100 km (62.1 mi) | ?? | Originally established in 1933, abandoned c.1959. See International links to Cambodia, below. |
| Mu Gia–Vung Ang | ?? | ?? | See International links to Laos, below. |
Defunct lines
| Description | Established | Length | Gauge | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phu Lang Thuong–Lang Son | 1895 | 31 km (19.3 mi) | 600mm Narrow gauge A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :... |
Refurbished and extended to create the Hanoi–Dong Dang line (see above). |
| Giat–Nghia Dan | — | 30 km (18.6 mi) | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
Line was left incomplete. |
| Gia Dinh–Hoc Mon | ?? | 20 km (12.4 mi) | ?? | |
| Tan Ap–Thakhek | — | 17.5 km (10.9 mi) | ?? | Line was left incomplete. |
| Don Dien Coudoux–Xom Cuc | 1960s | 17 km (10.6 mi) | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... |
|
| Dong Dang–Na Sam | 1921 | 15 km (9.3 mi) | Metre gauge Metre gauge Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland... or 600mm Narrow gauge A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :... |
|
| Mai Pha–Dong | ?? | 7 km (4.3 mi) | Standard gauge Standard gauge The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge... |
|
| Trang Bom–Ap Thanh Lam | — | ?? | ?? | Line was left incomplete. |
International railway links
ChinaThe railway link from Haiphong
Haiphong
, also Haiphong, is the third most populous city in Vietnam. The name means, "coastal defence".-History:Hai Phong was originally founded by Lê Chân, the female general of a Vietnamese revolution against the Chinese led by the Trưng Sisters in the year 43 C.E.The area which is now known as Duong...
to the Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
city of Kunming
Kunming
' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...
was originally built by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
administration of Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
in the early 20th century. The section within Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
is 389 km long (237 km between Hanoi and the border at Lao Cai
Lao Cai
Lào Cai is a city in northeastern Vietnam. It is the capital of Lao Cai province. The city borders the city of Hekou, in the Yunnan province of Southwest China. It lies at the junction of the Red River and the Nam Ti River approximately 160 miles northwest of Hanoi...
). The railway used gauge due to the mountainous terrain along the route. Currently, the line is the only main line in China using metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
, (or dual gauge
Dual gauge
A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail...
, since it can also be converted
Gauge conversion
In rail transport, gauge conversion is the process of converting a railway from one rail gauge to another, through the alteration of the railway tracks...
to standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
). Railway service along the Chinese portion of the route is currently suspended. Cross-border service was available until 2002, when floods and landslides, which frequently caused delays along the route, caused serious damage to the tracks on the Chinese side. The railway will form the Chinese part of the Singapore-Kunming Rail Link, which is expected to be completed in 2015.
Railway access to Nanning
Nanning
Nanning is the capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush tropical foliage.-History:...
is done through the border at Dong Dang, in Lang Son Province
Lạng Sơn Province
Lạng Sơn is a province in far northern Vietnam, bordering Guangxi province in China. Its capital is also called Lang Son, which is a strategically important town at the border with China and is northeast of Hanoi connected by rail and road...
. Regular service generally entails stopping at the border, changing from a Vietnamese metre-gauge train to a Chinese standard-gauge train, and continuing on to Nanning. Since 2009, a daily overnight service is available; the train departs from Hanoi's Gia Lam Railway Station
Gia Lam Railway Station
Gia Lam Railway Station is a railway station in Vietnam, in the north eastern Gia Lam district of Hanoi. It serves the city of Hanoi.It corresponds to the end of the normal gauge railway linking Vietnam to China ; the daily train to Nanning starts there rather than from the main Hanoi Railway...
, and runs on standard-gauge tracks all the way to Nanning.
Cambodia
There is currently no railway connection between Vietnam and Cambodia. The French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
administration of Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
originally built a railway from Saigon to Loc Ninh
Loc Ninh
Lộc Ninh is a town in southern Vietnam. It is a rural district of Binh Phuoc province in the southeastern region of Vietnam. A major battle, the Battle of Loc Ninh, occurred there during the Vietnam War.-Transport:...
in the 1930s, with the intent of extending it further into Cambodia. It was abandoned in 1945, at the start of the First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
. A new line connecting Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
to Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Located on the banks of the Mekong River, Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security,...
, Cambodia, was proposed as part of the Singapore–Kunming Rail Link project, overseen by the ASEAN–Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (AMBDC). The 129 km (80.2 mi) Vietnamese portion of the line would begin with a junction of the North-South Railway
North-South Railway, Vietnam
The Vietnam North-South Railway, also known as the Reunification Express, is a railway that runs from Ha Noi to Ho Chi Minh City. The total length of this railway is , with a gauge of metre gauge...
at Di An Railway Station
Di An Railway Station
Di An Railway Station is a railway station on the North-South Railway line in Vietnam. It serves the town of Di An in Binh Duong Province....
, and would end in Lộc Ninh
Loc Ninh
Lộc Ninh is a town in southern Vietnam. It is a rural district of Binh Phuoc province in the southeastern region of Vietnam. A major battle, the Battle of Loc Ninh, occurred there during the Vietnam War.-Transport:...
, Binh Phuoc Province
Binh Phuoc Province
Bình Phước is a province of Vietnam. It is located in the southeastern region of the country, to the north of Ho Chi Minh City. It shares a border with Cambodia.-History:...
, close to the Cambodian border. According to the plan established by ASEAN, this stretch is scheduled for completion by 2020.
Laos
There is currently no railway connection between Vietnam and Laos. In 2007, the Laotian Ministry of Transportation entered into discussion with Vietnam to discuss the possibility of opening a new railway line from Thakhek
Thakhek
Thakhek is a town in south-central Laos on the Mekong River and facing Nakhon Phanom across the river in northeastern Thailand. It is the capital of Khammouane province....
in Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
through the Mu Gia Pass
Mu Gia Pass
The Mu Gia Pass is a mountain pass in the Annamite Range between northern Vietnam and Laos, located 90 km northwest of Đồng Hới, Vietnam. The pass is 418 m above sea level and connects Route 15 from Tân Ấp in Vietnam to Route 12 in Khammouane Province in Laos....
to Tan Ap Railway Station
Tan Ap Railway Station
Tan Ap Railway Station is a railway station on the North-South Railway line in Vietnam. It serves the town of Tân Ấp in Quang Binh Province. From 1933, the station also served as a terminus of the Tan Ap - Xom Cuc railway, the only stretch of railway opened as part of the aborted Thakhek - Tan Ap...
in Quang Binh Province
Quang Binh Province
Quảng Bình , formerly Tiên Bình under the reign of Le Trung Hung of the Lê Dynasty, this province was renamed Quảng Bình in 1604) is a province in the North Central Coast of Vietnam....
, connecting to the national railway at Vung Ang, a port in Ha Tinh Province which the Vietnamese Government plans to expand. This would revive, in part, an earlier but aborted scheme, the Thakhek - Tan Ap railway. According to plans established by ASEAN, the line may be extended via Thakhek all the way to the Laotian capital Vientiane
Vientiane
-Geography:Vientiane is situated on a bend of the Mekong river, which forms the border with Thailand at this point.-Climate:Vientiane features a tropical wet and dry climate with a distinct monsoon season and a dry season. Vientiane’s dry season spans from November through March. April marks the...
. Both Laos and Thailand have expressed interest in the project as a shorter export gateway to the Pacific Ocean.
High-speed rail
Vietnam Railways
The railway system in Vietnam is operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways . The principal route is the thousand-mile single track North-South Railway line, running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This was built at the metre gauge in the 1880s during the French colonial rule...
has proposed a high-speed rail
High-speed rail
High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...
link between Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
, capable of running at speeds of 300 km/h (186 mph). Funding for the line would come mainly from the Vietnamese government, with Japanese aid in the form of official development assistance
Official development assistance
Official development assistance is a term compiled by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to measure aid. The DAC first compiled the term in 1969. It is widely used by academics and journalists as a convenient indicator of...
(ODA). Current technology allows trains travelling on the current, single-track Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City line
North-South Railway, Vietnam
The Vietnam North-South Railway, also known as the Reunification Express, is a railway that runs from Ha Noi to Ho Chi Minh City. The total length of this railway is , with a gauge of metre gauge...
to complete the journey in approximately thirty hours. Once completed, the high-speed rail line—using Japanese Shinkansen
Shinkansen
The , also known as THE BULLET TRAIN, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by four Japan Railways Group companies. Starting with the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in 1964, the network has expanded to currently consist of of lines with maximum speeds of , of Mini-shinkansen with a...
technology—would allow trains to complete the Hanoi–Ho Chi Minh City journey in less than six hours.
Vietnamese prime minister
Prime Minister of Vietnam
-Office:The Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the head of the executive branch of the Vietnamese government. The Prime Minister presides over the Vietnamese cabinet, and is responsible for appointing and supervising ministers...
Nguyen Tan Dung had originally set an ambitious target, approving a 1630 km (1,012.8 mi) line to be completed by 2013, with 70 percent of funding (initially estimated at US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
33 billion) coming from Japanese ODA, and the remaining 30 percent raised through loans. Later reports raised estimated costs to US$56 billion (almost 60 percent of Vietnam's GDP
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
in 2009) for a completion date in the mid-2030s. On June 19, 2010, after a month of deliberation, Vietnam's National Assembly rejected the high speed rail proposal due to its high cost; National Assembly deputies had asked for further study of the project.
Ho Chi Minh City Metro
A rapid transitRapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
network to serve Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
was first proposed in 2001 as part of a comprehensive public transport network plan including Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring provinces. The project is managed by the city's Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), a government unit working directly under the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. The city’s plan envisages developing three monorail
Monorail
A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...
or light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
lines with a total length of 37 kilometres (23 mi) and six underground metro
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
routes with a total length of 107 kilometres (66.5 mi). The network's first line, connecting Bến Thành Market
Ben Thanh Market
Ben Thanh Market is a big marketplace in the downtown area of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in District 1...
and Suoi Tien Park
Suoi Tien Amusement Park
Suoi Tien Amusement Park is an amusement park in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The park includes several entertainment areas. The landscaping and attractions in the park illustrate Vietnam's history and legends, such as Au Co and Lac Long Quan as well as the Battle of Son Tinh and Thuy Tinh...
in District 9
District 9, Ho Chi Minh City
District 9 is an urban district of Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam. As of 2003 the district had a population of 166,680. The district covers an area of 114 km².-References:...
, is scheduled for completion in 2015, and a second line between Bến Thành Market
Ben Thanh Market
Ben Thanh Market is a big marketplace in the downtown area of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in District 1...
and Tham Luong in District 12
District 12, Ho Chi Minh City
District 12 is an urban district of Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam.As of 2003 the district had a population of 239,610...
is due to begin construction in August 2010, scheduled for completion in 2016. Other proposed lines include: a Bến Thành Market
Ben Thanh Market
Ben Thanh Market is a big marketplace in the downtown area of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in District 1...
–Binh Tan line via Cholon
Cholon, Ho Chi Minh City
Chợ Lớn is a Chinese-influenced section of Ho Chi Minh City . It is the largest Chinatown in Vietnam. It lies on the west bank of the Saigon River, having Binh Tay Market as its central market. Cholon consists of the western half of District 5 as well as several adjoining neighborhoods in District...
; a line running from Lang Cha Ca in Tan Binh district to Van Thanh Park in Binh Thanh district; a line connecting Thu Thiem
Thu Thiem New Urban Area
The Thu Thiem New Urban Area is an urban project in District 2, Ho Chi Minh City . It is currently under construction.-Location:...
in District 2
District 2, Ho Chi Minh City
District 2, in which the new province of Thu Thiem is located, is a district of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, with the most potential.In the past, District 2 has been one of the poorest parts of Ho Chi Minh City due to the separation of the Saigon River. However, it is now the new hope for the...
with Can Giuoc in District 8
District 8, Ho Chi Minh City
District 8 is an urban district of Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam.As of 2003 the district had a population of 342,278. The district covers an area of 19 km².-References:...
; and a line stretching from Ba Queo in Tan Binh district to Phu Lam in District 6
District 6, Ho Chi Minh City
District 6 is an urban district of Ho Chi Minh City, which is the largest city in Vietnam. As of 2003 the district had a population of 283,794. The district covers an area of 6 km².-References:...
.
Hanoi Metro
In July 2008, Vietnamese Prime MinisterPrime Minister of Vietnam
-Office:The Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the head of the executive branch of the Vietnamese government. The Prime Minister presides over the Vietnamese cabinet, and is responsible for appointing and supervising ministers...
Nguyễn Tấn Dũng approved an overall transport development plan for Hanoi, which, among other projects, proposed a rapid transit
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
system with five routes. The project is being carried out by the Hanoi Metropolitan Rail Transport Project Board (HRB). As of spring 2009, projects for four lines were under consideration: the Nho–Hanoi Railway Station (the "pilot" line), the Nam Thang Long–Tran Hung Dao line, the Cat Linh–Ha Dong line, and the Yen Vien–Ngoc Hoi line. The Nho–Hanoi Railway Station, Cat Linh–Ha Dong and Yen Vien–Ngoc Hoi lines are currently in the research phase. Technical studies of the system were expected to be completed in 2009. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has confirmed that the Nam Thang Long–Tran Hung Dao line would begin construction in mid-2011, to be completed in 2014 for full operation by 2016.
Infrastructure
Most of Vietnam's railway infrastructure—including bridges, rail trucks, track beds, rollingstocks, signals and communication equipment, and maintenance facilities—has suffered severe deterioration, mainly due to damage inflicted during the Vietnam War and a subsequent lack of capital investment and maintenance. More recently, rehabilitation projects sustained by official development assistance
Official development assistance
Official development assistance is a term compiled by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to measure aid. The DAC first compiled the term in 1969. It is widely used by academics and journalists as a convenient indicator of...
have allowed the most critical pieces of infrastructure along the line to be replaced, although much work still remains to be done.
Tracks
Most existing Vietnamese railway lines use metre gaugeMetre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
, although standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
and mixed gauge are used northeast of Hanoi. As of 2005, approximately 2600 km (1,615.6 mi) of track was in use throughout Vietnam:
metre gauge ; standard gauge ; and mixed gauge ( and ).
Besides active tracks, around 506 km (314.4 mi) of tracks are in use as siding, bringing the total to 3106 km (1,930 mi) of track laid nationwide.
Bridges
Vietnam Railways reports the number of railway bridges along the North–South line to be 1,300, totalling about 28000 m (91,863.5 ft), or about 63% of the national total. Considering both standard rail bridges and combined bridges, the total length along the North–South line is about 36000 m (118,110.2 ft). Many of the railway bridges were severely worn from age and sport damage dating from the Vietnam War, despite their restoration following the war. As of 2007, 278 bridges requiring major rehabilitation remain along the North–South Railway line. Throughout the entire Vietnamese rail network, Vietnam Railways reports a total of 1,790 railway bridges, with a total length of 45368 m (148,845.1 ft).Tunnels
There are 27 railway tunnels along the North–South line, amounting to a total length of 8335 m (27,345.8 ft). Throughout the entire Vietnamese rail network, Vietnam Railways report a total of 39 tunnels with a combined length of 11512 m (37,769 ft). Certain tunnels are inadequately drained and suffer from deterioration in the tunnel lining, causing water leaks that necessitate reductions in speed.Signalling
The North–South Railway line uses a semi-automatic block system, which allows individual signals to work either as automatic signalsAutomatic Block Signal
Automatic Block Signaling, or ABS, is a block system that consists of a series of signals that divide a railway line into a series of blocks and then functions to control the movement of trains between them through automatic signals...
or manual signals. These replace the token
Token (railway signalling)
In railway signalling, a token is a physical object which a locomotive driver is required to have or see before entering onto a particular section of single track. The token is clearly endorsed with the name of the section it belongs to...
method used in earlier years. According to a joint Japanese-Vietnamese evaluation team, the recent installation of additional auto-signal systems at key crossings along the line has contributed to a decline in railway accidents. Semaphore signals
Railway semaphore signal
One of the earliest forms of fixed railway signal is the semaphore. These signals display their different indications to train drivers by changing the angle of inclination of a pivoted 'arm'. Semaphore signals were patented in the early 1840s by Joseph James Stevens, and soon became the most...
were once used throughout the Vietnamese rail network, but these are gradually being replaced with colour light signals; most of the railway lines in northern Vietnam have been converted.
According to Vietnam Railways, automatic warning systems have been installed at 230 level crossings throughout the country.
Communications
Since 1998, microband Asynchronous Transfer ModeAsynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a standard switching technique designed to unify telecommunication and computer networks. It uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing, and it encodes data into small, fixed-sized cells. This differs from approaches such as the Internet Protocol or Ethernet that...
technology has been used along the North–South Railway line to send television signals; 64 kbps transmission lines are leased from the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VPTC). Along some sections of the line—for example, from Hanoi to Vinh and from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City—a fiber optic cable network has been deployed; Vietnam Railways intends to extend the network along the remaining distance from Vinh to Nha Trang. A switching system featuring digital exchanges is in place, connected via the existing transmission system and the public telephone network. As the modernization of the telecommunication system progresses, manual exchanges are gradually being replaced with digital exchanges.
Sewers
The Vietnamese rail network includes 4,860 sewers, with a total length of 71439 m (234,379.9 ft).Safety
The overall condition of railway infrastructure in Vietnam varies from poor to fair; most of the network remains in need of rehabilitation and upgrading, having received only temporary repair from damages suffered during decades of war. A joint Japanese-Vietnamese evaluation team found that the poor state of railway infrastructure was the fundamental cause for most railway accidents, of which the most common types are train crashes against vehicles and persons, especially at illegal level crossings; derailmentDerailment
A derailment is an accident on a railway or tramway in which a rail vehicle, or part or all of a train, leaves the tracks on which it is travelling, with consequent damage and in many cases injury and/or death....
s caused by failure to decrease speed was also noted as a common cause of accidents.
The Vietnamese railway network is crossed by many roads in several crowded areas; as a result, accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians have occurred. In the first 10 months of 2009, 431 railway accidents reportedly took place throughout Vietnam, causing 166 casualties and injuring 319 people. A researcher from Villanova University
Villanova University
Villanova University is a private university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
noted "There are numerous safety issues with level crossings
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
ing and bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
s are often swept away, causing lengthy closures.
Along with recent efforts aimed at infrastructure rehabilitation, the recent adoption of safety measures by Vietnam Railways has led to a decline in railway accidents. These measures include: public awareness campaigns on railway safety in the media; construction of fences and safety barriers at critical level crossings in major cities; mobilization of volunteers for traffic control at train stations and level crossings, especially during holiday seasons; the installation of additional auto-signal systems; and the construction of flyovers
Overpass
An overpass is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway...
and underpass
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...
es to redirect traffic.
Railway management
The Vietnamese railway network is owned and operated by the state-owned enterprise Vietnam Railways
Vietnam Railways
The railway system in Vietnam is operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways . The principal route is the thousand-mile single track North-South Railway line, running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This was built at the metre gauge in the 1880s during the French colonial rule...
(VNR), which operates a number of different subsidiaries involved in construction, communications, training, and other activities connected to railway maintenance. Following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the newly reunified Vietnamese railway network was centrally managed by the precursor of VNR, the government's Department of Railways. Initially, low rail tariffs and the poor state of infrastructure used in other modes of transport led to high usage, but revenue proved to be insufficient to cover the railway's operating costs. In 1986, the Government's implementation of Doi Moi economic reforms led to the deregulation of the transport sector and the shift towards a market-led economy, forcing the railways to change in order to maintain a competitive edge. The Department of Railways was reorganized into Vietnam Railways in 1989; since that time, railway reform has passed through a number of stages. Responsibility for rail infrastructure and operations were separated by government decree in 1994. The government of Germany began providing assistance with the restructuring of the railway sector in 2000, allowing VNR to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations, thus increasing its competitiveness. In 2003, VNR was re-organized as a state corporation, the Vietnam Railway Corporation, operating in railway transport and related services; railway administration and infrastructure management were given to the Vietnam Railway Administration, under the authority of the Ministry of Transport. A Railway Law was passed by the National Assembly on 19 May 2005; although regulations for the law's implementation have yet to be issued, it does provide a strong basis for further sector development; among other things, it proposed that foreign investors
Foreign direct investment
Foreign direct investment or foreign investment refers to the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor.. It is the sum of equity capital,other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in...
be invited to invest in Vietnam Railways.
See also
- Transport in VietnamTransport in Vietnam- Railways :The Vietnamese railway network has a total length of , dominated by the single track North-South Railway running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The national railway network uses mainly metre gauge, although there are several standard gauge and mixed gauge lines in the North of the...
- Ho Chi Minh City MetroHo Chi Minh City MetroThe Ho Chi Minh City Metro is a proposed rapid transit network that will serve Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. The network was first proposed in 2001 as part of a comprehensive public transport network plan including Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring provinces, with the aim of avoiding the severe...
- Gia Lam Train CompanyGia Lam Train CompanyGia Lam Train Company is a Vietnamese railcar manufacturer. The company supplies cars to Vietnam Railways. Gia Lam is also the name of the main station in Hanoi, and also an airport.-Products:* Air suspension bogie for coach* Bogie for coach...
- Vietnam RailwaysVietnam RailwaysThe railway system in Vietnam is operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways . The principal route is the thousand-mile single track North-South Railway line, running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This was built at the metre gauge in the 1880s during the French colonial rule...
External links
- Official Website of Vietnam Railways
- Ministry of Transport, Vietnam
- Collected postcards depicting the Railways of Indochina. Society of Indo-China Philatelists.
Maps
- Detailed Railway Map. Daumaytoaxe.com.
- World Bank transport map