Yunnan–Vietnam Railway

The Yunnan–Vietnam Railway (French: Chemins de Fer de L’Indo-Chine et du Yunnan, "Indo-Chinese–Yunnan Railroad") is a 855 km railway built by France during 1904-1910, connecting Haiphong, Vietnam with Kunming, Yunnan province, China. The section within China from Kunming to Hekou is known as the Kunming-Hekou Railway, and is 466 km long. The section within Vietnam is 389 km long. The railway used 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauge due to the mountainous terrain along the route. Currently it is the only main line in China using metre gauge, but may be converted to standard gauge.

Contents

History

The railway was opened in 1910. There was a 2 ft  (610 mm) gauge branch line from Jijie to Gejiu which operated 0-10-0 tender locos built by Baldwin Locomotive Works.[2] The metre gauge section was originally administered in more or less the same way as the Indochinese networks, and if not for a "missing link" through Cambodia (between Saigon and Phnom Penh), it would have been physically possible for through trains to run from Kunming to Singapore, as metre gauge was used in Malaya as well.

Under pressure from Japan, France closed the line on 16 July 1940 to cut supplies to China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. During the Japanese occupation Japanese National Railways Class 9600 2-8-0 locomotives were shipped to aid their invasion, and after the completion of the "death railway" it was possible for a time to send through traffic to Burma and hence to the Indian metre gauge network. This is now not possible, as sections of the railway were destroyed during the conflicts since World War II.[2]

Present state

Twice-a-week cross-border passenger service (involving the passengers having to transfer from a Chinese train to a Vietnamese train at the border station) operated as late as 2000, but landslides caused frequent delays.[3] Eventually, the passenger service on the Chinese section of the railway was terminated, and this section is now used only for freight.[4] Nonetheless, according to Chinese news agencies, some investment continues to be made to keep the railway running. For example, it was reported in 2004 that 100 million yuan (USD $12 million) was to be spent to buy 10 new diesel locomotives for the railway.[5] As of 2008, upgrade work was said to be continuing on the Chinese side.[4]

On the Vietnamese side, passenger trains continue to run from Hanoi to the border town of Lao Cai.[4]

In fiction

See also

References

  1. ^ Nami-Ti Railway Bridge
  2. ^ a b A Picture Album of Steam Locomotives in China, 1876 - 2001. China Rail Publishing House. ISBN 7-113-04147-7. 
  3. ^ This Train Beats Walking (Sometimes) "New York Times", 2000-12-03
  4. ^ a b c The rail runs through it. "Straits Times", Aug 23, 2008
  5. ^ China invests US$12m on Kunming-Hanoi railway Xinhua, 2004-11-05
  6. ^ Book Review: Fan Wen’s “Bisezhai Station” (碧色寨)

External links