Inside Hanoi’s 131 railway arches set for a new look

Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem Ward Administration is preparing a detailed urban design plan for the railway arches. The plan aims to renovate and regenerate the urban space, preserve the architectural heritage of the arches, and unlock the area’s potential for culture, commerce and distinctive services.

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The study area covers about 10 hectares, including approximately 8.77 hectares of land along a corridor stretching 1,716 meters.

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The 131 stone arches stretching from Phung Hung Street to Gam Cau Street were built by the French around 1900–1902 to serve the railway line running through central Hanoi.

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Built from rough-hewn stone blocks, each arch spans about 16 square meters and has a similar width, while its height ranges from 2 to 6 meters depending on its location.

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After more than a century, most of the arches have been sealed for safety and security reasons. Only five are currently open for traffic. Two of them retain their original condition: Arch No. 122, connecting Nguyen Thiep Street, and Arch No. 9, linking Hang Huong Alley with Phung Hung Street.

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Under the proposed plan, the entire stretch of 131 arches from Long Bien Station to the Tran Phu–Ngo Tram intersection would be divided into six sections. Each would have a distinct function, ranging from community cultural and arts spaces and handicraft areas to food streets, traditional markets and public parks.

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Section E, stretching from Nguyen Thiep Street to Long Bien Station, is envisioned as a public park incorporating the preservation of the old Long Bien Station, creating green space and a pedestrian route along the railway arches.

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The section from Cua Dong Street to Le Van Linh Street is planned as a handicraft space, while the Le Van Linh–Hang Cot section would become a community cultural and arts space. The Hang Cot–Hang Giay section is envisioned as a food area featuring restaurants, cafés, specialty shops and spaces introducing traditional Hanoi cuisine to visitors.

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Nearly 20 arches along Phung Hung Street toward Hang Cot are currently decorated with artworks from the Phung Hung Mural Street project, created by Vietnamese and Korean artists from late 2017 and completed in early 2018.

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After years of use, many of the murals and other elements of the project have deteriorated, showing the challenges of maintaining a public cultural space over time.

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The railway arches along the roughly 500-meter stretch of Gam Cau Street are about 6 meters high and are now lined with a dense concentration of shops and eateries, despite the road itself being only about 4 meters wide.

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The spaces beneath the arches have also been marked out for parking, while many households use them to store goods and park vehicles, adding to the area’s cluttered appearance.

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Arch No. 93 at the Gam Cau–Hang Giay intersection was opened on a pilot basis by Hanoi in 2019. However, the Gam Cau side remains enclosed by metal fencing, while much of the surrounding space is still used for commercial activities.

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The renovation of the entire railway arch corridor is expected to breathe new life into one of Hanoi’s historic infrastructure landmarks, preserving its more-than-century-old architectural value, creating a distinctive chain of public, cultural, commercial and tourism spaces and helping connect heritage preservation with the socio-economic development of the capital’s central area.