IQBAL - User contributions [en]

Railway to ruin: Hanoi train factory fades from glory

2018-06-22T19:53:01Z

AletheaRenwick:

The Gia Lam train factory in Hanoi was the first in the then-French territory established to bolster the expanding rail network of the time Built by the French to fix trains for their fast-developing Vietnamese colony, the Gia Lam factory later churned out weapons to fuel the country's independence fight, and then survived the onslaught of American bombers during the war. But the storied Hanoi plant is now in decline, a victim of the rising consumer power of Vietnam's middle classes as passengers turn from trains to planes. The storied Hanoi plant is now in decline, a victim of the rising consumer power [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] of Vietnam's middle classes as passengers turn from trains to planes "In the past, I was proud to work here because this factory was the biggest in Indochina," repairman Au Duy Hien told AFP. Opened in 1905, Gia Lam was the first train factory in the then-French territory, which spanned modern-day Vietnam, [http://News.Sky.com/search?term=Cambodia Cambodia] and Laos. Mechanics used the base to first fix and then assemble the engines and carriages that served the region's rapid push toward industrialisation. The factory was taken over by the Vietnamese in the 1940s, expanding production to make bazookas and grenades for revolutionaries fighting the colonial rulers who were finally thrown out in 1954 The factory was taken over by the Vietnamese in the 1940s, expanding production to make bazookas and grenades for revolutionaries fighting the colonial rulers who were finally thrown out in 1954. And then it continued to [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] make weapons during the Vietnam War -- even as it was bombed by US planes targeting Communist-backed revolutionaries in northern Vietnam. - Running out of steam - Output at the factory is down more than 90 percent since its 1990s heyday and it is now mostly used to repair old trains, with little demand for new carriages on the country's vast but outdated rail network But today, output is down more than 90 percent since its 1990s heyday. It is now mostly used to repair old trains, with little demand for new carriages on the country's vast but outdated rail network. The industry is struggling to keep pace with the lure of low-cost air travel. For many, the choice between a clanging, slow-moving train or a quick -- and cheap -- plane is a no-brainer. In 2015, [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] 31 million people travelled by air, more than double the number in 2010, according to official statistics. Train use remained steady at 11 million for the year. Today, some companies are seeking to revive the colonial romance of rail travel, offering first-class trips, wood-lined cabins with restaurant car. The air travel industry in Vietnam has taken off in recent years, aided by the launch of low-cost airlines offering cheap tickets. In 2015, 31 million Vietnamese took to the skies, more than double the number who flew in 2010 "If rail transportation isn't developed, then the railway industry cannot be revived," union boss Nguyen Anh Tuan told AFP. Some lawmakers recently called for private investment into the state-controlled sector, and the country's parliament is currently considering revising the law. But unless the industry sees a major upturn in fortunes, Gia Lam employees fear it will soon run out of steam. Advertisement

Tuesday March 15

2018-06-21T05:08:22Z

AletheaRenwick:

Today is Tuesday, March 15, the 75th day of 2016. There are 291 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date: 44 B.C. - Roman dictator Julius Caesar is assassinated by a group of Roman senators including Cassius and his friend Brutus. Caesar had been forewarned of the 'Ides of March.' 1493 - Christopher Columbus returns to Spain, concluding his first voyage to the Western Hemisphere. 1603 - Samuel de Champlain, French navigator and explorer, sails for the New World. 1776 - U.S. Congress resolves that authority of British Crown should be suppressed. 1848 - Hungarian intellectuals stage bloodless revolution in Budapest against Austro-Hungarian empire. It is put down by Russian troops the next year. 1874 - France assumes protectorate over central Indochina region of Annam, which breaks off vassalage to China. 1875 - The Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York City, John McCloskey, is named the first American cardinal by Pope Pius IX. 1894 - France and Germany agree on boundaries between French Congo and Cameroon. 1903 - British conquest of [https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/northern%20Nigeria northern Nigeria] is complete. 1913 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson holds the first open presidential news conference. 1916 - U.S. force of 12,000 soldiers under Gen. John Pershing is ordered to Mexico to capture revolutionary leader Pancho Villa. 1917 - Czar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates after humiliating defeat by the Germans. The Russian state and military begin to dissolve. 1919 - The American Legion is founded in Paris. 1937 - The world's first blood bank is established at [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] Chicago's Cook County Hospital by Dr. Bernard Fantus. It is a breakthrough for surgical procedures and emergency treatments. 1938 - Nazi Germany seizes Czechoslovakia with little resistance, after having annexed the Sudetenland, with its fortifications, the previous year. 1989 - Soviet Union's President Mikhail S. Gorbachev calls for rapid measures to ease chronic food shortages. 1991 - Serbian President Borisav Jovic resigns after the collective presidency fails to declare a nationwide state of emergency. 1992 - A second earthquake in a short time strikes eastern Turkey, killing an estimated 800 people. 1993 - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin offers, after a meeting with U.S. President Bill Clinton, to surrender part of the Golan Heights to Syria. 1999 - Rosemary Nelson, a Northern Ireland attorney who represented Catholic clients in several high-profile cases, is killed by a car bomb. The outlawed anti-Catholic group Red Hand Defenders claims responsibility. 2003 - Rebels led by ousted army chief General Francois Bozize capture the Central African Republic's capital, Bangui, and the international airport while President Ange-Felix Patasse was out of the country. Bozize declared himself president. 2005 - A French court convicts six men in an alleged plot to send a suicide bomber into the U.S. Embassy in Paris, wrapping up a trial that shed light on the spread of Islamic radicals in Europe. 2006 - A Spanish boat recovers the bodies of 24 people believed to be African migrants floating in waters off the coast of Mauritania, hundreds of miles (kilometers) south of the Canary Islands. 2012 - Dozens of Iranian banks are blocked from doing business with much of the world as the West [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] tightens the financial screws on a country it wants to prevent from developing nuclear weapons. 2014 - Malaysia's leader says the jetliner from his country missing for more than a week was deliberately diverted and continued flying for more than six hours after severing contact with the ground. 2015 - Philippine troops capture the leader of a Muslim rebel group in the south who had been linked to bombings and a beheading and accused of protecting two terror suspects wanted by the United States. Today's Birthdays: Andrew Jackson, U.S. president (1767-1845); Charles de Montalembert, French author (1810-1870); Jules Chevalier, French priest/founder of Sacred Heart Missionaries (1824-1907); Henri Saint Cyr, [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] Swedish equestrian/Olympic gold medalist (1902-1979); Harry James, U.S. bandleader (1916-1983); Judd Hirsch, U.S actor (1935--); Sly Stone, U.S. singer/musician (1943--); will.i.am, U.S. rapper/musician (1975--); Eva Longoria Parker, U.S. actress (1975--). Thought For Today: Sometimes it's worse to win a fight than to lose - Billie Holiday, American singer (1915-1959). Advertisement

User:AletheaRenwick

2018-06-21T05:08:17Z

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