Hanoi train's track

Traffic in Vietnam is crazy but the train tracks that skirt through Hanoi’s residential areas reach levels of insanity.

Back in April, The Daily Mail took some incredible photos of these routes, capturing the everyday activities that occur next to these potentially fatal pathways.

Tight space: A train squeezes past a shop display in the centre of Hanoi, Vietnam, while a man on a moped waits for the tracks to clear

Dangerous: A woman with a baby on her knee by the track. The line is so close to shops and homes that huge trains are forced to squeeze past market traders

On the line: The track is so close to buildings that locomotives, which negotiate the line twice a day, brush past pedestrians and children playing in the street

Paying attention: Residents have to move out of the way and even dismantle shop displays when the train is approaching

Unusual sight: The photographer said there are barbershops, people selling goods, chefs cooking food and kids running around - 'all within inches of the tracks'

Crossing: Mr Desai said the locals 'know when the train is coming so they all move out of the way - it is a part of their routine'
'There are barbershops, people selling goods, chefs cooking food and kids running around - all within inches of the tracks.
‘The locals know when the train is coming so they all move out of the way - it is a part of their routine. Old men will sit on the tracks all day.
‘Then, as it approaches four or six o'clock, they get up, move their chairs a metre away from the track and continue talking while the train goes past.
‘When the track is clear they move back into the middle.’




In place of a refreshments trolley: The Vietnamese government is currently seeking more than £1billion of investment to improve safety features on its railway

Railway-related accidents account for 2 per cent of all deaths annually in Vietnam.
Many deaths occur at illegally-built crossings with no barriers or warning signs.
There are an estimated 5,000 illegal railroad crossings in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese government is currently seeking more than £1billion of investment to improve safety features on its nearly 2,000 miles of railway

Source: Saigoners