An Imperial Railway Failure: The Indochina—Yunnan Railway,1898–1941

Imperial railway projects emphasised military, geopolitical and economic objectives but often failed to achieve their planned outcomes. This article addresses this gap in the case of the French-built Indochina—Yunnan railway project. It introduces the doubts the railway project raised and the challenges associated with building it. The article demonstrates that the railway's contribution to securing France's power in Indochina and its economic impacts pale in comparison with the bottomless money pit it had become by the time Japanese occupation troops bombarded sections of the line in 1940.