Introduction
This article, which is split into two parts, deals with the 859km long 1m gauge railway from Haiphong in Vietnam, formerly part of Indochina, to Yunnan-fou, now named Kunming, in China. It starts with the opening of the first section, Haiphong - Hanoi in 1903, and essentially ends with the entry of Japan into WW2 in 1940. At this point in time, the line was split into two sections, Haiphong - Lao-kay and Pi-ché-tchai - Yunnan-fou, with the removal of 178km of track Ho-kéou - Pi-ché-tchai.
This is Part 1 which gives a brief history of the building of the line, since it has been well documented elsewhere, details the development of the locomotive rolling stock, and examines the principal station, shed/works, and bridges as if making a journey from Haiphong to Yunnan-fou. Part 2 looks at timetables over a period of more than 20 years, the railway's financial results, and the volume and nature of the passenger and freight traffic.
Brief History & Description of the Line
The Haiphong - Lao-kay line (394km), wholly within Vietnam, and the Ho-kéou - Yunnan-fou (or Yunnan-sen) line (465km), wholly within China, were the highest priority lines of the French 1897 program for railway construction (Lao-kay and Ho-kéou are the border towns either side of the Nam-ti River).
The French had taken control of northern Vietnam from the Chinese as a result of the Sino-French war 1884-85. Then, in 1895, in the aftermath of the 1st Sino-Japanese war, where China received political support from France, the French and Chinese signed trade agreements. As part of these agreements, France gained the right to build the railway into Yunnan.
Whereas, the Haiphong - Lao-kay line was constructed by the state railway “Chemins de fer de I'lndochine” (CFI), the Hokéou - Yunnan was constructed by a private company “Compagnie française des Chemins de fer de I'lndochineCIY were given the rights to exploit both lines as a single entity (total of 859km) for 75 years are shown in Table 1.
