Introduction
This is Part 2 of an article that deals with the 859km long 1m gauge railway from Haiphong in Vietnam, formerly part of Indochina, to Yunnan-fou, now named Kunming, in China. In Part 2, timetables over a period of more than 20 years, CIY’s financial results, and the volume and nature of the passenger and freight traffic are examined. Part 1 gave a brief history of the building of the line, details the development of the locomotive rolling stock, and described the principal station, shed/works, and bridges as if making a journey from Haiphong to Yunnan-fou.
Passenger Timetables and Journey Times
The earliest partial timetable and journey times found are from 1918 and 1919. These show journey time for Haiphong – Hanoi of 3 hours (three trains per day) and for Haiphong – Lao-kay of 12 hours (one train per day). Passengers then would overnight in Lao-kay. Journey time from Haiphong - A-mi-tchéou, where there was a second overnight stop, was given as one and a half days while the journey time from Haiphong – Yunnan-fou was given as three days. It is thought that these journey times are similar to those when first services started in 1910.
The first and perhaps only complete timetable found is for 1922. Haiphong – Hanoi is still about 3 hours (three trains per day with an additional service from/to Hai-duong) but Haiphong – Lao-kay is 13 hours 21 minutes. The Laokay – A-mi-tchéou portion has a journey time of 11 hours 34 minutes (on Day 2) while A-mitchéou – Yunnan-fou has a journey time of 10 hours 10 minutes (on Day 3). Overnight stops were still required in Laokay and A-mi-tchéou. In addition to the train that continued to Lao-kay, there were also two trains that only went to Yen-bay (5 hours 35 minutes)
