Passenger service

Daily passenger service is provided along the entire North–South railway by state railway company Vietnam Railways. Express service links Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, making stops at major stations; local service is also provided along shorter portions of the line, such as from Hanoi to Vinh, Vinh to Đồng Hới, Vinh to Quy Nhon, and so on. The following trains run regularly along the line (each line represents a pair of trains, one southbound and the other northbound):^[9]

Freight service

Vietnam Railways provides daily freight transport, mainly between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City; freight service ending at Da Nang is also offered. The following trains run regularly along the line (each line represents a pair of trains, one southbound and the other northbound):^[10]

Wartime

After the Japanese invasion of French Indochina during World War II, Japanese forces used the Vietnamese railway system extensively, inviting sabotage by the Viet Minh as well as American bombing from the air. Following the exit of the Japanese at the end of the war, efforts were made to repair the seriously damaged North–South line.

Shortly after World War II ended, however, the First Indochina War began, and the Viet Minh's sabotage of the rail system continued, this time against the armies of the French Union.^[5] In response, the French began using the armed armoured train La Rafale as both a cargo-carrier and a mobile surveillance unit.^[16][17] In February 1951 the first Rafale was in service on the Saigon-Nha Trang section of the North–South line.^[18][19] Use of the Rafale failed to deter the Viet Minh guerrillas, however, who continued sabotaging the line, making off with its rails under cover of night and creating a 300 km (190 mi) rail network between Ninh Hoa and Da Nang, in a Viet Minh-controlled area.^[5] In 1953, the guerrillas attacked La Rafale itself, mining and destroying stone bridges as they passed by.^[20] In 1954, following the signature of Geneva Accords, Vietnam was temporarily divided into two parts: the communist North and anti-communist South. The North–South railway was bisected accordingly at Hiền Lương Bridge, a bridge over the Bến Hải River in Quảng Trị Province.^[2]

A repair crew installs new railway tracks in South Vietnam.

Throughout the Vietnam War, the North–South railway was a target of bombardments and sabotage by both North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese forces. The South, supported with the United States, reconstructed the track between Saigon and Huế in the late 1950s, a distance of 1,041 km (647 mi). Nevertheless, a relentless campaign of intense bombing and sabotage by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese regular units resulted in the South Vietnamese railway system being unable to carry significant tonnages. 795 attacks were launched between 1961 and 1964 alone, eventually forcing the South to abandon many large sections of the track.^[5] The U.S. Army operating in South Vietnam had considerable interest in the North–South line because of the potential it offered in the bulk movement of cargo at low rates. The system was used to support the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, construction program and transported hundreds of thousands of tons of rock and gravel to air base and highway sites.^[21]

In North Vietnam, American bombing of railways was concentrated on key targets such as railway bridges, both along the North–South railway and along the lines north of Hanoi, such as the Hanoi–Lào Cai and Hanoi–Dong Dang lines. Operation Rolling Thunder was the first large-scale bombing campaign carried out by the U.S. Air Force, taking place from March 2, 1965 until November 1, 1968, when US President Lyndon B. Johnson temporarily called off air raids. Large-scale air raids resumed from May 9 to October 23, 1972, for Operation Linebacker, and again from December 18–29, 1972, for Operation Linebacker II, with fewer target restrictions than Rolling Thunder.

Thanh Hóa Bridge, damaged by smart bombs.

A particularly difficult target for the U.S. Air Force was the Thanh Hóa Bridge, a well-defended combined road/rail bridge in Thanh Hóa Province. One of the first attacks on the bridge took place on April 3–4, 1965. Despite dropping 239 tons of bombs on the bridge during the raid, the bridge remained serviceable; additionally, three American F-105 aircraft were shot down during the raid.^[22][23] The U.S. Navy also conducted Alpha strikes on the bridge. Several times, traffic over the bridge was interrupted, but every time, the North Vietnamese dutifully repaired the damage. The bridge was eventually destroyed by laser-guided smart bombs during separate raids on April 27 and May 13, 1972, as part of Operation Linebacker.

After the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, the Communist government of the newly unified Vietnam took control of the former South Vietnamese railway. Heavily damaged, the war-torn North–South railway line was nevertheless restored and returned to service on 31 December 1976, promoted as a symbol of Vietnamese unity. In the short time between the surrender of the South and the reopening of the line, 1334 bridges, 27 tunnels, 158 stations and 1370 switches had been repaired.^[5] Other railway lines that once existed, such as the Da Lat–Thap Cham Railway, were dismantled during this period to provide materials for the repair of the main line.^[24]

Accidents and incidents

On 10 March 2015 D19E locomotive No. 968 was written off in an accident near Dien Sanh when it was hauling a passenger train that was in collision with a lorry on a level crossing.

On 7 August 2023, rocks collapsed at km 455 in Quang Binh in a tunnel, leading to massive delays (up to 16 hours 26 minutes). This happened during maintenance of the tunnel.^[25]

List of stations

This abridged list includes all major stations^{[nb 3]} with timetabled services. As of 2005, there were 278 stations on the Vietnamese railway network,^[4] of which 191 were located along the North–South line.^[3]

Km	Station	Region	Province	City/Dist./Ward	Opened	Notes	Photo
0	Hanoi	Red River Delta	Hanoi	Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi	1902[26]	Interchange for Hanoi–Haiphong, Hanoi–Thái Nguyên, Hanoi–Lào Cai, Hanoi–Đồng Đăng lines
5	Giáp Bát	Red River Delta	Hanoi	Hoang Mai District, Hanoi		Freight station
56	Phủ Lý	Red River Delta	Hà Nam	Hai Ba Trung Ward, Phủ Lý
87	Nam Định	Red River Delta	Nam Định	Nam Định			Photo
115	Ninh Bình	Red River Delta	Ninh Bình	Thanh Binh Ward, Ninh Bình
176	Thanh Hóa	North Central Coast	Thanh Hóa	Tan Son Ward, Thanh Hóa
319	Vinh	North Central Coast	Nghệ An	Lê Lợi Ward, Vinh	1905[27]
522	Đồng Hới	North Central Coast	Quảng Bình	Nam Ly Ward, Đồng Hới
622	Đông Hà	North Central Coast	Quảng Trị	Đông Hà
688	Huế	North Central Coast	Thua Thiên-Huế	Huế	1906[28]
777	Kim Lien	South Central Coast	Da Nang			Freight station
791	Đà Nẵng	South Central Coast	Da Nang	Thanh Khe District	1902[29]
865	Tam Kỳ	South Central Coast	Quảng Nam	An Xuan Ward, Tam Ky
928	Quảng Ngãi	South Central Coast	Quảng Ngãi	Quang Phu Ward, Quảng Ngãi
1096	Diêu Trì	South Central Coast	Bình Định	Diêu Trì, Tuy Phước District		For Quy Nhơn
1096*	Quy Nhơn	South Central Coast	Bình Định	Quy Nhơn
1198	Tuy Hòa	South Central Coast	Phú Yên	Ward 2, Tuy Hòa
1315	Nha Trang	South Central Coast	Khánh Hòa	Phuoc Tan Ward - Nha Trang	1936
1408	Tháp Chàm	South Central Coast	Ninh Thuận	My Huong Ward, Phan Rang – Tháp Chàm		Interchange for Da Lat–Thap Cham line[nb 4]
1551	Bình Thuận	South Central Coast	Bình Thuận	Muong Man		For Phan Thiết
1697	Biên Hòa	Southeast	Đồng Nai	Trung Dung Ward, Biên Hòa
1711	Sóng Thần	Southeast	Ho Chi Minh City	An Binh, Di An District		Freight station	Photo
1726	Sai Gon	Southeast	Ho Chi Minh City	Ward 9, District 3	1983[nb 5]

Tracks

The North–South railway line uses metre gauge, as was commonly used on local railways in France around the time of its construction.^[7][33]

Bridges

Long Biên Bridge, a famous railway bridge in Vietnam in Hanoi.

Vietnam Railways reports the number of railway bridges along the North–South line to be 1,300, totalling about 28,000 m (92,000 ft), or about 63% of the national total. Considering both standard rail bridges and combined bridges, the total length along the North–South line is about 36,000 m (118,000 ft).^[6][7] Many railway bridges are severely worn from age and have damage dating from the Vietnam War, despite temporary restoration following the war. As of 2007, 278 bridges requiring major rehabilitation remain along the North–South Railway line.^[6]

Tunnels

There are 27 railway tunnels along the North–South line, amounting to a total length of 8,335 m (27,346 ft).^[7] Certain tunnels are inadequately drained and suffer from deterioration in the tunnel lining, causing water leaks that necessitate reductions in speed.^[2]

Signalling

The North–South railway line uses a semi-automatic block system, which allows individual signals to work either as automatic signals or manual signals.^[7] According to a joint Japanese-Vietnamese evaluation team, the recent installation of additional auto-signal systems at key crossings along the line has contributed to a decline in railway accidents.^[6]

Communications

Since 1998, microband Asynchronous Transfer Mode technology has been used along the North–South railway line to send television signals; 64 kbit/s transmission lines are leased from the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VPTC). Along some sections of the line—for example, from Hanoi to Vinh and from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City—a fiber-optic network has been deployed; Vietnam Railways intends to extend the network along the remaining distance from Vinh to Nha Trang. A switching system featuring digital exchanges is in place, connected via the existing transmission system and the public telephone network. As the modernization of the telecommunication system progresses, manual exchanges are gradually being replaced with digital exchanges.^[4][7]

Infrastructure rehabilitation

The condition of railway infrastructure in Vietnam, although improving, is still poor enough overall to require rehabilitation. Rail transport only became a national priority for the Vietnamese government around the mid-1990s, at which point most of the railway network was severely degraded, having received only temporary repair from damages suffered during decades of war.^[6][36]

Railroad workers in Da Nang.

From 1994 to 2005, a major bridge rehabilitation project took place on the North–South railway line, with the Pacific Consultants International Group and Japan Transportation Consultants providing consultancy services. The overall project cost was JPY 11,020 million, or 18% less than the budgeted cost. The overall results of the project included a reduction in running hours from one end of the line to the other (from 36 hours in 1994 to 29 hours in 2007); an increase of speed limits on rehabilitated bridges (from 15 to 30 km/h (9.3 to 18.6 mph) to 60 to 80 km/h (37 to 50 mph), which contributed to the reduction in running hours; and a reduction in the number of railway accidents throughout the line.^[6]

In 2007, Vietnam Railways awarded an additional VND 150 billion (US$9.5 million) five-year contract for consultancy services to Japan Transportation Consultants, the Pacific Consultants International Group, and the Japan Railway Technical Service (Jarts), regarding a VND 2.47 trillion project to further improve bridge and railway safety on the North–South line. The project's goals include the refurbishment of 44 bridges and 37.6 km (23.4 mi) of railway tracks, the building of two new railway bridges and a new railway station at Ninh Bình, and the purchase of 23 track machines. The project was expected to be completed in 2010.^[37]

North–South Express Railway

National railway company Vietnam Railways has proposed a high-speed rail link between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, capable of running at 300 to 350 km/h (186 to 217 mph). Funding of the $56 billion line would mainly come from the Vietnamese government; reports suggest Japanese development aid could be made available in stages, conditioned on the adoption of Shinkansen technology.^[38][39] Once completed, the high-speed rail line would allow trains to complete the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City journey in approximately 6 hours.^[40] Vietnam's National Assembly rejected the existing plan for the line in June 2010, and asked for further study of the project.^[41] In 2023, the Chinese Government submitted a similar proposal, which would see a new High Speed railway between Ho Chi Minh City & Hanoi, continuing northward into China and linking up to China’s existing high speed rail system in Nanning, allowing for through running of International Chinese rail services and also Vietnam Domestic Rail services. This plan was also rejected by the National Assembly.