One of the most famous tourist spots in Vietnam is Hanoi’s ‘Train Street’. The uniqueness of this street lies in the fact that the 100 meters long part is extremely narrow and the train passes just a meter away from the houses!! The line of safety is marked with yellow colour which is just about 20 centimeters away from the houses in the area. That’s the line you should be aware of and not cross when the train approaches.
Unfortunately, this iconic train street located in Vietnam’s capital closed due to safety concerns after having reopened after a long Covid-19 closure. The street that faced shutdown back in 2019 over safety concerns had started opening businesses in recent weeks on account of tourist arrival after Vietnam reopened the borders to tourists earlier this year.
One of the locals who runs a café there, Nguyen Thi Thu, was just beginning to recover from the losses - “The tourists had come back, and we were earning enough to make a living,” she said.
The railway that was built by colonial rulers and once upon a time used to transport goods and people across the French Indochina is still being used by communist Vietnam’s state-run rail company. This stretch of tracks that was once occupied by drug users and squatters suddenly transformed owing to pictures shared by travellers on their social media handles – that is when the locals realized the possible business potential behind it.
In September 2022 the kilometer-long line was blocked off by police although a section of track was kept open. One of the local officials stated that the businesses present along the street were violating railway safety rules.
This unfortunate closure of the train street has left the tourists miffed and disappointed. Jay Arriola from the UK had heard about the site from his girlfriend but mentioned “It is a bit of a disappointment,” when he heard about the closure of the stretch. He added “I wanted to go to a café that has a top level... (to have) a perspective on the train going through that trail between the houses,” adding that “a top deck might be safer.”
While keeping customers safe had been part of café owner Thu’s daily routine where he would ask all the guests to shift inside the café when it was time for the train to pass, it waits to be seen if the track will open anytime soon or sufficient safety measures are deployed before reopening the tracks for tourists and locals alike!
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