Don Det–Don Khon railway

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The Don Det–Don Khon railway (sometimes spelled "Don Deth–Don Khone") was a 7-kilometre (4.3 mi)-long

Background

The French colonial administration of Indochina was determined to use the Mekong River for a route into China, and to help counter British colonial expansion in Upper Burma. The governor of Indochina saw the Mekong as "the main point of connection between the different countries of French Indo-China (Cochin-China, Cambodia, Laos and Tonkin), which will be able to communicate with each other through it".^[1] The main obstacle was in southern Laos, where the river divides into several channels with rapids (known as the Khone Phapheng Falls) at the Siphandon Islands. Attempts in 1891, 1892 and 1893 to scale the falls failed; accounts exist of steamships with "engines roaring and boilers near bursting, with hundreds of men hauling from the rocks on ropes and others pushing from the decks with pikes",^[1] and one vessel "allegedly wriggled up a narrow water-slide to within fifty metres of the top before the attempt had to be abandoned".^[1]

Alternative modes of transport were necessary. One idea came in the form of

The French started to build the bridge in 1917 and it was delivered to the "Compagnie des Messagerie Fluviale de Cochinchine" on January 1, 1923, for operation. It was finished between 1920 and 1921 but as they receipt the railway for the Don Det extension on October 1922, the inauguration was delayed. Due to the WW1, they had huge material supply problems (mostly on cement and steel).^[citation needed]

Contemporary account

Although there are few accounts of the railway–written or pictorial—Marthe Bassenne, a physician's wife, travelled between Phnom Penh and Luang Prabang in 1910:

The train, struggling and grating amid the clashing sound of steel, hauled us across the island, which is covered by teak trees and bamboos whose branches brushed our faces. The temperature was very high and the sun, filtering through the trees, roused noxious fever-vapours from the tangled undergrowth. Sweat caked my hair under my sun hat; the heat burned my arms through my clothes; and the mosquitoes took advantage of my predicament to attack me as they pleased, all over my hands and face…

— John Keay, Mad About The Mekong: Exploration and Empire in South East Asia^[1]

Present-day route

Although the railway—including the 170-metre (560 ft) concrete viaduct—remains largely intact and can be walked or cycled (except for short stretches in a maintenance yard), its rails have been removed. The trackbed, consisting of compacted ballast and sand, is used to traverse the islands. Nearly all visitors reach the islands via Nakasang in Champasak Province (off Route 13), arriving by boat at Ban Hua Det on Don Det.

At Ban Khon on Don Khon, one of the two wood-burning steam locomotives still in existence is at a former maintenance depot. Built in 1911 by Orenstein & Koppel and named Eloïse, the rusty engine sits on a short stretch of track. A shed has been constructed to protect the locomotive from further deterioration, and the section of track has been raised onto a small concrete plinth to protect the wheels from water.

Proposed reconstruction

Until the first decade of the 21st century, the government of Laos made no serious attempt to reopen the railway since its closure in the 1940s. The Vientiane Times published news in December 2005 about the possible reopening of the railway by 2007 for tourism. The budget for reconstruction was an estimated US$1.5 million and, although local materials would have been sought, new rolling stock from abroad would have to be purchased. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the principal backer (the South Korean Kyungin Engineering and Construction Company) and the Laotian government, but the company backed out of the agreement. Improvements in local and regional highways and airport infrastructure have reduced the need to use the Mekong River for freight transportation in Laos.

See also

• French Union
• Transport in Laos
• Vientiane–Boten railway

Notes

References

• Keay, John (2005). "Mad About the Mekong: Exploration and Empire in South East Asia". Harper Collins.
• Whyte, Brendan (2010). "The Railway Atlas of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia". White Lotus, Bangkok.

External links

• "Laos Travel Tips". 2002. Retrieved 23 July 2011.
• "Don Det & Don Khon Travel Information and Travel Guide – Laos, Lonely Planet". 2009. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
• "4000 Islands. Si Phan Don photo gallery by Peter Wolledge".

13°57′49″N 105°55′15″E / 13.963556°N 105.920761°E / 13.963556; 105.920761