The author chose to sit inside the “Hanoi Five Gates” train, observing curious onlookers outside as it rolled along the route of one of Hanoi’s newest tourism products. The train, which began operations in September 2025, allows passengers to view the famed “Train Street” from a different perspective, while also offering glimpses into Vietnamese daily life and culture.

Embarking from the Hanoi Station at 8:00, this restored double-decker train immediately enters the maelstrom of “Train Street” before wending its way through the outskirts of the capital city. Backyards, crop farms and city streets rub along the spine of the line, almost up to the sleepers.

Each of the five passenger carriages represents one of the gates of the ancient Thang Long Citadel of Hanoi. They have been restored to represent the different eras of Vietnamese history, and are simply decked out in bright green, red and orange hues, with single seats facing across tables and benches directed towards the view.

“We’re close enough and travelling sufficiently slowly to peer into household kitchens and watch city dwellers pegging laundry on their lines,” Neil Melloy wrote.

The trip is a 40-minute journey over Soviet-era and French rail and bridge infrastructure to Do Temple in Hanoi’s neighbouring province of Bac Ninh. Back on the train at 10:30 for the return journey, visitors are treated to more folk music and fried doughnuts before a 20-minute stop during which they are allowed into an open-top carriage to take photos and selfies backdropped by the historic 2.4km Long Bien bridge, constructed by the French and Vietnamese at the beginning of the past century, according to the article.

Hanoi Train begins official operation, offering tourists unique travel experience

The “Hanoi Five City Gates” Train (The Hanoi Train) officially began operation on September 6, offering visitors a new way to explore the capital’s landmarks and travel to Tu Son in the neighbouring province of Bac Ninh.