Don Det – Don Khon narrow gauge railway

The Don Det–Don Khon railway ((sometimes spelled Don Deth–Don Khone) was a 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) long narrow-gauge portage railway located on Don Det and Don Khon islands, part of the Si Phan Don (sometimes spelled Siphandon) or Four Thousand Islands archipelago in Champasak Province, southern Laos. Built by the Mekong Exploration Commission, the railway was operated by Lao State Railway authority, opening in 1893 and closing either in 1940 or 1949.

The railway was initially laid to 600 mm (1 ft 11 ⁵⁄₈ in) gauge; later it appears the railway was partly or wholly converted to (possibly) 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) metre gauge. The railway aided the transportation of vessels, freight and passengers along the Mekong River. The Don Det–Don Khon islands railway held the title for the only railway ever built, opened and operated in Laos until 2009, when a railway was opened between Nong Khai, Nong Khai Province, Thailand and Thanaleng Railway Station, Dongphosy village, near Vientiane, Laos.