Merchants and locals along Hanoi’s iconic Train Street are distraught after Vietnamese authorities called time on the tourism hotspot.
Narrow Train Street draws is famous for drawing crowds of tourists every day to get up close with the daily locomotives that run along it.
Trains pass through twice a day – at 3pm and 7pm. Tourists usually line up shoulder to shoulder to watch, with the massive engines just centimetres away.
Until earlier this month. Authorities closed the street to the public, citing safety fears, after a tourist was reportedly hit by a train.
The dozens of family businesses – cafes, restaurants, shops – that line the street and serve the tourists have also been ordered to close.
Hoan Kiem district authorities said the 30 business households along the track violated rail safety regulations and posed accident risks.
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In Australia, we stand behind painted markings on train platforms, but on Train Street, the locomotives pass just centimetres from dining tourists and locals’ front doors.
Locals know when it’s coming courtesy of bells and the train’s horn. Many vendors keep chalkboards with the train timetable.
As the bells ring, workers and patrons grab tables and chairs off the tracks, and find a spot on the side.
Social media has brought the street international acclaim in recent years.
Videos using the hashtag #trainstreet have a whopping 16.3 million views on TikTok, with more than 37,000 Instagram users also sharing their selfies and videos of the passing trains.
Safety concerns
A trip to Train Street, with tracks built by the French in 1902, is not for the faint of heart.
As one social media user posted: “Grab a beer, find a seat and try not to lose an arm!”
A series of close collisions with tourists prompted authorities to close the street in 2019.
However, since Vietnam opened to tourists in March, the street has been packed with tourists.
The high numbers also made authorities nervous, worried about more accidents.
The vice-chairman of Hoan Kiem District People’s Committee, Nguyen Anh Quan, told Vietnam News: “Tourism revenue makes up a considerable amount of our budget, but we do not trade revenue for the safety of the people.”
@thatonecal Tag someone you want to visit train street with! 🚂 This was actually crazy! 🤩 #thatonecal #thatonevlogs #vietnam ♬ Walking On a Dream – Empire of the Sun
@claireandpeter You can leave bottle caps on the rail and the train will flatten them!! #vietnam ♬ Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show
Authorities clamp down
The Vietnam Railway Corporation, the company behind the rail line, backed the committee’s decision.
Operating cafes and taking photos and videos along the street should be a fineable offence, they stated.
Tourists have continued to visit, with crowds seen at the barriers every day, as visitors photograph the narrow street and train from afar.
Locals’ demands
Thirty businesses along Train Street wrote to authorities and requested to be included in the discussion of safety issues on Train Street.
“My family has four people and we mainly depend on this cafe to earn a living. We borrowed money to invest in the cafe,” cafe owner Phung Anh Tuan said.
“My family now waits for new policies from Hanoi authorities that allows resumption of business activities along Train Street.”
The business owners offered several suggestions, including improved signs in multiple languages and posting safety officers long the 300-metre stretch of track.
They also asked for railway operators to install signal lights and for barriers to be closed earlier, among other measures.
Finally, they requested that the local tourism department should inform tourists about the timetable and safety requirements, and provide safe locations for tourists to take photographs.
So far, their suggestions have fallen on deaf ears.
