Yunnan–Burma Railway

The Yunnan–Burma Railway (alternatively: Burma-Yunnan Railway) was a failed British project to connect far south-west China's Yunnan province with the recently established rail network in British occupied Burma.

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History and Politics

The British project was working against the background of the successful French Yunnan-Vietnam Railway that had been established on the nearby Hanoi to Kunming route from 1904–1910, some 30 years earlier. To secure the rights to construction, Britain referred to Article IV of the Anglo-French Siam Convention for 'mutual privileges'.

Planning and surveying

Maria Bugrova's article The British expeditions to China in XIX century discusses the question of a railway to Yunnan from Burma.

In the 80-s of the XIX century Great Britain drawn special attention to the Upper Burma's region and the roads to south-western China. The former colonial officer of British Burma's administration Colquhoun A.R. and engineer of Civil Works Department in India H.Hallett went on travels in 1882 from Canton to Rangoon. Returned to England Colquhoun A.R. sent his proposal to Chamber of Commerce of Great Britain to investigate the question of railway building between Rangoon and south-western China through Shan states. His proposal was approved by Chambers. According to preliminary calculation the cost of works was about seven thousand pound sterling, one half of this amount must be presented by Chambers of Commerce, and another part must be contributed by the Government.
In the end of 1884 Hallett and Colquhoun received 3,5 thousand of pounds from Chambers of Commerce for investigation of railway building. They found important information about climate, population, minerals. They drawn special attention to liking. From their point of view penetration of British goods into China depended on amount of this tax. The difficulty of liking question substantially explained British traders' interest in railway building. In case of this building it’d be possible to avoid the payment of liking transferring goods to internal China. Colquhoun daily telegraphed to The Times about its expedition.

In 1898 there are references in the British Hansard regarding possible construction of the line.

Archibald John Little's 1905 book The Far East mentions the proposed route on page 124:

A railway, starting from Mandalay, goes north-east to the bank of the Salwin which is to be crossed at Kunlong Ferry in latitude 23 degrees 20', whence, if ever built, it is to be taken north in Chinese territory and run parallel with the prevailing strike of the mountains, due north to Tali-fu; but this line will pass through a wild thinly-peopled country and it is doubtful if a private company will be found to build it.

The 1911 Leo Borgholz, the US Consul General in Canton, published a trade report entitled 'Yunnan Trade Districts and Routes', in which he mentions that the British appeared to have shelved the project for lack of financial viability.

In 1938, Edward Michael Law-Yone travelled to Yunnan from his native Burma to see the proposed route.

Construction

By 1938 construction had begun. In 1941 25 meter-gauge 2-8-8-2 mallet-type articulated engines were ordered from the American ALCO company, and American promised to supply steel for the construction effort.

An article by Royal Arch Gunnison published in the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday, November 27, 1941 stated that American Engineers still expected "12 to 15 months to complete" the railway, described a Dr Victor Haas of the American Public Health Service as in charge of sanitation and Malaria prevention.

Additional American personnel such as Paul Stevenson accepted commissions with the United States Public Health Service and were sent to assist with malaria control during the construction effort.

Abortion

Unfortunately, it seems that construction of the line was abandoned due to Japanese advances, and was never resumed. Burma's limited trading value to China and its internal political and military instability have probably been two major contributing factors.

Legacy

Today the Yunnan side of the line lies in ruin. Though signs here and there attest to its presence, there is little actual rail left, and the line has all but vanished from local history and barely graces itineraries of all but the most determined travellers.

One such sign can be glimpsed opposite the ferry to Baodian, slightly south of Manwan in the far north-eastern section of Lincang prefecture. The sign records a tunnel from the construction, but the entry has long been covered over and there is no visual hint to the line's presence whatsoever.

See also

References

External links