Switzerland’s Stadler seeks to join restoration of Vietnam cog railway

Stadler Rail, a leading Swiss manufacturer of railway rolling stock, has shown interest in joining Vietnam’s efforts to restore the Thap Cham-Dalat railroad, the only cog railway in the nation built before 1975.

This interest has been sent to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) by the Embassy of Switzerland in Hanoi. The ministry has in turn sent it to the People’s Committee of Lam Dong province, whose capital is Dalat.

Stadler, founded in 1942, said this ambitious restoration project needs new cogwheel freight and passenger cars, of which they are the leading maker.

The People’s Committee of Lam Dong has assigned the provincial Department of Transport to work with the MoFA on possibilities to cooperate with Stadler.

Switzerland is globally famous for its cogwheel trains serving tourists in highland areas. Stadler, headquartered in Bussnang, Switzerland, says the leading railway rolling stock manufacturer now employs more than 12,000 employees working in 18 countries.

In late 2022, Bach Dang Hotel Complex, Trading, and Service JSC, based in the Vietnamese central coastal city of Danang, proposed a mammoth project to restore the Thap Cham-Dalat railroad, saying the ambition would cost nearly VND29 trillion ($1.23 billion) to finish.

The 84-kilometer line, now in a state of ruin, is a unique feature of Vietnam’s railroad history because globally, Switzerland is the only country still operating cog railways. A cog railway, or rack railway, is a steep-grade railway with a toothed rack rail between the running tracks. This allows the trains to operate on steep grades.

Bach Dang’s restoration proposal has reached the transport ministry.

Lam Dong is a Central Highlands province in Vietnam, and its capital Dalat used to be called "Little Paris" by the French. The highland town, about 1,500 meters above sea level, is one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations.

In 2015, the government approved comprehensive planning for Vietnam’s railway transport development until 2020 with a vision to 2030, including the restoration of the Thap Cham-Dalat railway.

Thap Cham railway station is in the south-central coastal province of Ninh Thuan and is part of the country’s North-South railroad system. The Thap Cham-Dalat line was abandoned due to a lack of fuel after 1975, but a route of about seven kilometers from the Dalat station to Trai Mat station is still in use to serve tourists.

The Dalat station, designed in 1932 by two French architects named Moncet and Reveron, was inaugurated in 1938, becoming Indochina’s most beautiful railway station.