Saigon Railway Station is a railway station in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This station is the largest and most important railroad transportation hub of Vietnam as Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city and the economic center of Vietnam. The original station was located across from Ben Thanh Market in District 1 and the current station, originally a baggage holding and shipping center, was constructed in early 1930s by the French colonists, as part of the Hanoi-Saigon Railway. The station is situated around 1 km from downtown. Due to the requirements of urban planning, the city government is considering the relocation to the city outskirt of this station in Binh Trieu (Binh Trieu Railway Station). Every year, 1–2 months before Tết, there are always thousands of people queuing here all day to buy tickets home as this is the main booking office of Vietnam Railway Station Corporation, though electronic booking machines have been adopted, these queues continue due to the monopoly. Another more convenient booking office is located at 275c Pham Ngo Lao.
Despite the city being named Ho Chi Minh City after the war, the name of the station has remained the same as ever.
Famous quotes containing the words saigon, railway and/or station:
“I told them I’m not going to let Vietnam go the way of China. I told them to go back and tell those generals in Saigon that Lyndon Johnson intends to stand by our word, but by God, I want something for my money. I want ‘em to get off their butts and get out in those jungles and whip hell out of some Communists. And then I want ‘em to leave me alone, because I’ve got some bigger things to do right here at home.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“...I believe it is now the duty of the slaves of the South to rebuke their masters for their robbery, oppression and crime.... No station or character can destroy individual responsibility, in the matter of reproving sin.”
—Angelina Grimké (1805–1879)