The French built Vietnam's metre gauge railway which links Ho Chi Minh City (which still seems to be called 'Saigon' by the railway) in the south to Hanoi in the north with some branches in the Hanoi area.
I travelled by road from Hoi An to Hue and the single-track main line accompanied us for part of the way, so I naturally started to look at the features of the line. There are some serious mountains on the route and the railway is tunnelled for part of the route. Whilst we were stopped for lunch, I watched a long southbound passenger train emerge from a tunnel and slowly make its way towards Da Nang. The train was too far away to get any details.As we got nearer to Hue, we travelled on a flat, coastal plain pierced by rice paddies. In this area, the railway was raised on a low embankment and looked in very good condition with solidly-built sloping walls to the embankment supporting ballast in good condition and fairly high-poundage flatbottom rail.
A reasonably well maintained open-wire telephone route, using mainly wooden telegraph poles, kept close to the track. Bridges over the numerous waterways were either of simple deck girder construction or, for the widers channels, one or more through girder trusses. It all looked in good condition and a spotted a number of staff apparently patrolling the track. Road-rail intersections were almost all level crossings, often with flashing lights and with motorised or hand-operated barriers. All had a neat crossing-keeper's hut and were staffed.
I did some 'drive by' shots of the arrangements at passing loops but its clearly difficult to gather details without stopping. All the signals I spotted were colour light, either a simple 2-aspect or fitted with two 2-aspect heads and a single-light subsidiary aspect. Some distance before each loop I found a 2-aspect signal which I presume is a yellow/green warning signal. At the loop points, I always spotted the 'four aspect plus subsidiary' type. Sometimes, there were 2-aspect signals leaving loops which I think must be red/green starting signals. I think this sort of configuration is typical of Russian and Chinese practice. I was surprised that all points appeared to be hand operated from single-lever frames fitted by the 'toe' of the points. Each frame had what I assumed was an electrical contact box to control signals but a lever lock is also possible.
In one town, I glimpsed the coaches of a southbound passenger train and shortly after we passed a slow-moving northbound passenger train, presumably re-starting after letting the southbound pass. The merest glimpse of a big diesel on the front suggested Chinese manufacture and my guide confirmed that both Russia and China have supplied railway equipment.
Once checked in to my hotel at Hue, I walked to the station to see what could be seen. My guide thought I should be able to purchase a platform ticket but I was on my own and my request totally baffled three girls in the ticket office and the station master or supervisor. In any case, they appear to keep everybody in the waiting room until they're ready to board. The main building is a nice French design but doesn't appear to be used for its original purpose. Instead, ticket sales and a waiting area are in a much simpler building alongside. By walking along public roads, I was able to find level crossings at the station throat at both ends of the station where the single line fans-out into a series of loops.
At Hanoi, I found a similar, if larger, arrangement. The large station building is utilised, although, again, the platforms are closed until required. The rather nice French architecture was somewhat spoiled by the Americans bombing the centre section. The Vietnamese cleared away the rubble and built an awful, modern centre section to rejoin the two remaining 'wings' and carried on regardless.
More when I can.
References
Vietnam Railways (Wikipedia).
David Gurnett's 'Railways in Vietnam'.
My pictures
Railways in Vietnam.
Hanoi Railway Station.
