| Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm Panduranga |
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Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm
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| Country | Vietnam |
| Province | Ninh Thuận Province |
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 (2004), of which 91,000 (2004) live in the main city.
During the Vietnam war, Phan Rang was the site the United States Air Force's Phan Rang Air Base. The airfield had been established by the Japanese in World War II and was later used by the French.
The ancient Panduranga, the capital of the southernmost of city-states of Champa was located where Phan Rang is now.
Phan Rang Town was established in 1917 following an order by the Khai Dinh Emperor.
Phan Rang was the provincial capital of Ninh Thuan Province until 1976, when it lost this status because of the province's merger with Binh Thuan Province to form Thuan Hai Province. The town was divided into Phan Rang in the east, which became part of Ninh Hải District and Thap Cham in the west, which became part of An Son district (huyện An Sơn). The two parts were again combined to become one town in 1992, when Phan Rang - Thap Cham again became the capital of Ninh Thuan Province.
It achieved city status in February 2007.
Phan Rang-Thap Cham is located at the junction of National Routes 1A and 27; the former connects the town to Hanoi towards the north and Ho Chi Minh City to the southwest, while the latter crosses into the Central Highlands towards Buon Ma Thuot.
The city is connected to the North-South Railway at Thap Cham Railway Station; express passenger trains (SE1/2, SE5/6) stop regularly at the station.[1] The station once served as a terminus for the Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway, a rack railway which opened in 1932. The railway was abandoned during the Vietnam War and dismantled after the North Vietnamese victory in 1975, to provide materials for the restoration of the heavily damaged North-South line.[2] A proposed renewal project, backed by provincial and local governments, aims to restore the entire Đà Lạt–Tháp Chàm railway to handle both passenger and cargo transportation.[3]
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