A few years after liberation in 1975, only three percent of trans-Viet trains arrived at their destination on time, and they lagged at an average speed of 20-30 kilometers per hour.

This was the result of severe damage to the railways in southern Vietnam, and a fuel shortage. Vietnam had to resort to steam locomotives to meet transport needs.

However, this was still better than the period immediately following liberation, when the trans-Viet railway had been completely interrupted thanks to the bridges and tracks that had been destroyed by bombings.

Only in 1972, over 5,800 meters of bridge in the North were destroyed by US bombings. Major bridges such as the Long Bien, Viet Tri, Ham Rong and Phu Luong were targeted and 57 locomotives and 1,902 wagons were ruined.

At one point large ferries with a load capacity of 300 tons each were assembled to play the role of buoys so that railway tracks could be laid across rivers at night before being taken apart and returned to shelter during the day.

Not only did they transport passengers and cargo, but railways in the North also made great contributions to carrying missiles to battlefields, especially in the 1960s, said Le Minh Duc -- former deputy chief of Vietnam Railways.

Recovery

In November, 1975 Duc was assigned to recover railway tracks and other facilities in the South. About 100,000 workers were mobilized to repair hundreds of kilometers of tracks and build 20km of bridges, he said.

The most challenging job was to repair the Binh Loi Bridge at the entrance to Ho Chi Minh City after its 240-ton center span had been ruined by bombing. Repairs were started simultaneously from the northern and southern ends.

A year later, in December, 1976, the trans-Viet route was re-connected in the central provinces of Quang Binh and Ha Tinh.

Yet difficulties remained, recalled Phan Si Lien – former deputy general director of the Transport Union Region 1. “In the 1980s, Vietnam had to resort to out-of-date steam locomotives,” he said.

Coal locomotives were not provided with quality coal, so they ran ploddingly at speeds as low as 20 – 30 kilometers an hour. Even worse, many locomotives suddenly broke down in desolate areas.

The railways industry even replaced quality coal that would have created sufficient heat by pouring asphalt or used machine oil onto local-made coal to run locomotives. Vietnam was later given a US$1 million loan to import 10,000 tons of coal from Australia to ease the railway issues.

“During the years after 1975 and in the 1980s, engineers could do nothing but lay bedridden with exhaustion after leaving the wheel. Engineers and other train staff had to prepare coal aboard to ensure a supply of heat for the locomotives’ boilers for normal operations. Their skin darkened and peeled off as if they were being scalded,” said Lien.

During this period, it was announced that a trans-Viet train would take 72 hours to transit the entire route, but this was only in theory, he added. One or two days beyond that number was normal.

Only 3.3 percent of trans-Viet route trains arrived at their destination on time, even though 80 percent departed on time.

The total length of the trans-Viet route was measured at 1,726 km, and there was only a 98 km section where trains could travel at 60 kph.

Improvement

Improvements in train speed have only made since 1994, after a decision issued by the late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet. It allowed the railways industry to escape state subsidy and mobilize investment capital itself to improve equipment.

“New locomotives from Belgium, Russia, India, and former Czechoslovakia, were imported into Vietnam. Speed began improving and steam locomotives ended their duty.

“The 72 hours, or more, it took to travel by train across the nation was gradually shortened to 36 hours, and then down to 32 hours. In 2005 it was 29 hours 30 minutes,” said Duc.

Speed hasn’t been the only area of improvement, as the length of main track has been expanded to 2,670km to limit intersections on routes.

The overall speed on the trans-Viet has surpassed the rate at which the French colonial authorities built in Vietnam in 1930. However, many projects planned by the French have been ignored, including the Saigon – Ca Mau route, the Indochina route, and other routes to Eastern regions and the Truong Son mountain chains.