While planning my itinerary for Hanoi, I had never imagined that one of the activities I would do is to search for railway tracks while exploring Hanoi’s Old Quarter and do some train spotting.
Hanoi’s “train street” is not an official tourist attraction but lately has become a very popular place for visitors. After all, there are not many places where you could see actual operating railway lines running through a narrow street in a busy city with people living next to it. Besides enjoying plenty of photo opportunities of local people living by the train tracks, a visit to “train street” could also provide an opportunity to see a moving train so close that you could feel the draft of air on your face as the towering behemoth rolled by.
There are actually two good places in Hanoi to see the “train street”. One is north of the Hanoi Railway Station and the other is south of the same station.
On our first day in Hanoi, we went to the “train street” located north of the station as it is closer to our hotel in the Old Quarter. In fact, it is directly west of Hoan Kiem Lake, between Tran Phu and Dien Bien Phu streets.
“Train street” between Tran Phu and Dien Bien Phu streets.
“Train street” is like any other back alley within the old city of Hanoi, except that on this street, a railway track runs through it. Built during the period when Vietnam was a colony of France, the narrow gauge railway track is still in operation, linking Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, Hue, Danang, Sapa and Nha Trang.
Goods and passenger trains run on this track a few times a day. It may seemed dangerous to be living so close to a railway track but the local residents, including their pets, must had gotten used to it.
Children play and pets wander about outside their homes next to the tracks.
Outdoor kitchen at “train street”.
By now, the local residents are probably also used to the increased numbers of visitors wielding selfie sticks and cameras who wander up and down these tracks, hoping to get some Instagram-worthy shots.
Enterprising locals have converted some of the houses to cafes and shops targeted at visitors although many units are still used as a place of residence.
Low stools are provided by cafe owners to customers who sip drinks while waiting for the next train to roll by.
Schedules of the trains are painted outside some of these cafes.
“Train street” was fun to visit and was a photographer’s delight. Since the train only runs at 6 AM and 7 PM on the weekdays, we missed seeing a train rolling through the street while we were there.
This means we would have to visit “train street” again, the next day. This time, we went to the south of the Hanoi Railway Station, between Le Duan and Kham Tien street. The exact lane the train passes along is called Ngo 224 Le Duan.
A train is scheduled to run around 3 PM in the afternoon and another at 7.30 PM at this location. It is good to arrive earlier as the train timings are not exact.
Waiting to see the train up close at Hanoi’s train street, Ngo 224 Le Duan.
We arrived 45 minutes before 3 PM. Like the first train street we visited, this street also features cafes. The street seemed narrower and buildings seemed taller at this location. The curved train track also made the photos more interesting.
A few minutes before 2.30 PM, a young cafe owner walked down the tracks to advise visitors to stay behind a faded blue line painted on the sidewalk for our own safety. A train is expected to arrive soon. Everyone waited with bated breath as all activities on the street stopped.
A loud blast of air-horn could be heard as the train rounds a corner.
The huge train almost seems to be touching the sides of the buildings on the narrow street.
One of the safer places to be as the train passes is in a doorway of a resident’s home.
After a minute or so, the long train was gone.
As soon as the train went by, life on the track returns to “normal”.
We came to Hanoi and saw the train up close.
Mission accomplished! What an experience.
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