page_title: North–South express railway (Vietnam)
section_title: Vietnam's history of railway and nation-building
hierarchical_section_title: North–South express railway (Vietnam) / Railway projects and the nation / Vietnam's history of railway and nation-building
caption_attribution_description: English: Reconstruction the Trans Vietnamese Railway (RVN postage stamp)
context_page_description: The North–South express railway is a proposed high speed railway in Vietnam. The line would begin in Hanoi, crossing provinces and municipalities of Hanoi, Hà Tây, Hà Nam, Ninh Bình, Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Đà Nẵng, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên, Khánh Hòa, Ninh Thuận, Bình Thuận, Đồng Nai, Bình Dương, and coming to an end in Ho Chi Minh City. The rail line would connect the two most developed areas in Vietnam which are Hanoi in the North's Red River Delta in the north and Ho Chi Minh City in the South's Mekong River Delta. The total proposed length would be 1,570 kilometres, compared with the 1,729-kilometre of the old railway line. The cost of the line is estimated at US$55.85 billion, to be funded by official development assistance from Japan and by the Vietnamese government itself. The project is planned to be implemented in three phases: Hanoi to Vinh city; Vinh City to Nha Trang; and Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City. Construction activities on the first phase are expected to commence in 2020, and the whole project is scheduled for completion in 2050.
context_section_description: Railways are also considered as a symbol of nation-building in Vietnam. Nation-building is constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the state. As a collective phenomenon, national identity can arise as a direct result of the presence of elements from the common points in people's daily lives: national symbols, language, the nation's history, national consciousness, and cultural artifacts. (Kelman, 1997) 
  The construction of the railway responded to, shaped, and ultimately became inseparable from the colonial and postcolonial reformulation of Vietnamese national identity. Basically, the interactive history of railways and a sense of identity has evolved over time since the French colonial period of the 1880s. The first railroad in Vietnam was constructed under the French colonial in 1881. The earliest Saigon–My Tho (71 km) railway was completed in 1885. In 1902, France completed the construction of the Hanoi-Dong Dang Railway and the Chinese Railway. In 1902, France built the Hanoi–Hai Phong railway; In 1906, France completed the construction of Hanoi–Lao Cai and Kunming–Yunnan China Railway; In 1931, France built the Thap Cham–Da Lat Railway; In 1933, France built the Sai Gon–Loc Ninh Railway; In 1936, the French built the North-South railway with a length of 2600 km. The parallel roads with these railway lines have also been upgraded, becoming inter-provincial roads. Roads are built together with steel bridges that share railways. In the north of the roads of the country (Tonkin), parallel with the railway lines also opened. Road No. 2 (Hanoi–Tuyen Quang–Lao Cai) Road No. 3 (Hanoi–Thai Nguyen–Cao Bang), Road No. 5 (Hanoi–Hai Phong). By 1931 Vietnam had 2389 km of railway. With the north-south routes, Hanoi goes to: Hai Phong, Dong Dang Lang Son, Lao Cai, Thai Nguyen, Cham Towers–Da Lat and Sai Gon–Loc Ninh. 
  When the French brought railways technology to colonial Indochina, they wanted the locals to see the railways as a symbol of the French power with advanced technology, modernity, civilized. However, to construct the entire railway system in Vietnam under their protectorate, the French had mobilized thousands of Vietnamese labors working in severe conditions or unwholesome environment. Many Vietnamese labors have died in the construction. Generations of farmers from Vietnam’s countryside were mobilized to serve the construction of the railway system. According to Del Testa (2001), railroads became an important symbol of unity in the face of oppression within the context of colonial Vietnam. The Railways "helped produce the overwhelming disappointment, division, dissension, and bitterness that marked France's presence in Indochina during the 1920s and 1930s, and inspired many Vietnamese to act on their negative feelings about France." 
  During World War II and the wars with the French and the Americans the tracks were the target of countless attacks. In the Vietnam War, Vietnam divided into two entities (Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in the North and Republic of Vietnam (RVN) in the South). Even in that situation, both entities were both seen railways as one of the symbols of a united Vietnam. Postage stamps of both sides can be seen as the illustration of their ideas. After the end of the American War there was not much left of the tracks, but the new government viewed the railway as the symbol of the unification, and therefore invested a lot of manpower in rebuilding it. The new state after 1975 that in a sense does not have the kind of long relations with the people in the South that it is talking about. It needs to produce legitimacy overnight in some cases it is possible in other cases the military comes in. And so technology is legitimacy becomes one of those themes that constantly repeated and reframed and reformed in particularly in places like Vietnam. Post-colonial context means (i) postcolonial countries are the latecomers in technology. These countries became independent after the WWII. As a result of being latecomers in relations to technology, they had the options it appea
caption: Reconstruction the Trans Vietnamese Railway (RVN postage stamp)
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