Train Street in Hanoi
Train Street, located in Hanoi, Vietnam’s Old Quarter, became a tourist attraction as large trains navigated a small street with a series of shops and residences.
A Small Vietnamese Residential Street or Train Throughway
The tracks, originally laid in 1902 in the midst of French colonial rule, were built remote from the bustle of the city. As the city grew, residents built homes and shops closer and closer to the tracks.
Ngo 224 Le Duan, know affectionately as "Trian Street" is located between Le Duan and Kham Tien streets.
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As tourism grew in the late 1990s, the central location of the street, the addition of shops and cafes, and the short walk from Hoan Kiem Lake has increased the street's popularity. Despite the precarious proximity of trains running so close to these locations thousands of people visited every year and it became a must-visit place in the city.
After a recent incident when a train had to be rerouted as a result of too many people taking photos on the tracks, the government shut down Train Street in 2019 by blocking pedestrian traffic. Many of the cafes and restaurants running adjacent to the tracks have now been ordered to close. It is slowly reopening "post COVID" to tourists.