Spending billions to protect a railway line in Nghe An that has not had a single train for 10 years

In the early 60s of the last century, Nghe An province had a policy of migrating people to the prosperous Western region to develop a new economy. The vast plains in Phu Quy quickly became vast farms and forestry farms thanks to the fertile land. To meet the transportation needs between the lowlands and the highlands, in 1966, the Cau Giat - Nghia Dan railway line was formed. The 32 km long route, from Cau Giat town (Quynh Luu district), to Nghia Dan district, now in Thai Hoa town. In the photo is the starting point of this route connecting to the North - South railway line through Cau Giat station.

During its heyday, Cau Giat - Nghia Dan was a rare railway line built along the East - West corridor in the Central region, which had a narrow terrain. Initially, the trains mainly carried timber from Phu Quy area to the lowlands, then transported fertilizers, agricultural materials... from the lowlands up. In addition, during this time, the railway also had the important task of transporting necessities and weapons from the plains to Nghia Dan area, then following the forest roads to the South, serving the war that was entering its fierce phase.

In the early 1990s, there was only one pair of passenger trains going up and down each day, but they were always packed with passengers. Back then, there was a time when Nghia Dan station had to stamp 2,000 tickets a day, but it was still not enough. Because there was no printer, the station master and staff had to bury themselves in stamping tickets. To the point that by the end of the day, everyone's hands were covered in ink...

The period when this railway line operated most effectively was in the 70s. At that time, the route was considered the lifeline between the lowlands and the highlands of the province. At that time, with 4 trains passing through each day, the railway line contributed to promoting the development of the Phu Quy area in particular and the whole province in general. The goods transported on this route at that time were mainly wood, minerals and weapons. In the photo, many sections of the railway are now overgrown with grass and trees after nearly 10 years without trains passing through.

Since the late 90s, buses running the Vinh - Nghia Dan route have appeared more and more. At this time, Provincial Road 537, now National Highway 48, was invested in and expanded; convoys of transport cars followed each other back and forth. Since then, passengers gradually switched from taking trains to taking buses because of the convenience, with trains constantly going up and down with empty carriages. Struggling with "empty" trains, in 2006, the Railway Company had to stop passenger transport. 6 years later, in 2012, the last freight train also fell into a similar situation. In the photo, many sections of the railway were overlapped when building roads.

In addition, minerals in the Quy Hop and Nghia Dan areas were previously transported raw downstream by rail, which was reasonable. But now they are pre-processed, in small packages, and transported by road, which is much more flexible.

Currently, the State budget still has to spend 1.4 billion VND each year to pay salaries for employees. These 10 people are assigned to 2 stations Quynh Chau and Nghia Thuan, in charge of protecting the corridor for 2 sections of the road. In the photo, the railway line runs right under Ho Chi Minh road.

After many years of disuse, this route has now seriously degraded. According to records, most of the rail sleepers have rotted, the screws are heavily rusted, and weeds are growing everywhere. Many cross-roads have been built by people with rocks and soil piled on top of the rails to make it easier for vehicles to pass. The stations seem abandoned...

According to the reporter's investigation, when the North-South expressway project is implemented, the investor will also have to build an overpass with a huge amount of money just to avoid this abandoned railway line.