Dalat Railway Station is a railway station on the Da Lat – Thap Cham Railway line in Vietnam, serving the town of Da Lat in Lam Dong Province.
It was a narrow-gauge railway built by Frenchmen. After the war, it was abandoned. In 1990, it was put into use for running the 7-kilometre tourism route from the Station to the nearby Trai Mat village. Dominated by orange-red tone, the Station has three sharp roofs and stained glass, highlighting the ancient exotic.
Regarded as one of the finest pieces of colonial engineering and architecture in Vietnam, the station was designed in Art Deco style which is perfectly in harmony with local characteristics and culture. Its three high pointed roofs resemble the three peaks of Lang Biang Mountain or as some people say, the communal house of ethnic minorities in Central Highland of Vietnam (called Nha Rong). Each roof contains multi-color glass window, and the central roof has a huge clock which has been restored recently.
The other distinctive feature of Dalat railway station is the cog railways. The total length of the railway is 84km from Dalat to Thap Cham station with 16km of cog railway designed by Swedish engineers. Because of the mountainous geography, a system of cog railroad and locomotive is needed to provide the traction for uphill slopes and slow down the train when going downhill. The construction had to overcome many difficulties of the mountainous terrain so that it leaded to such a long period of time to complete which was 24 years.
Since 1991, Dalat railway station provided tourists with the 7km route from Dalat to Trai Mat station, where visitors can enjoy the fresh peaceful daily lifestyle of local people, find fresh vegetables and fruits in the local market, as well as visit small Linh Phuoc Pagoda. The train, with open seat carriages, runs toward the terminal village. This is also one of the venues where locals to take wedding pictures.
The trip takes about 30 minutes and operated 5 times per day (at 7.45AM, 9.50AM, 11.55AM, 2.00PM and 4.05PM).
