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.
It’s pretty incredible how residents have acclimated to this environment. While our jaws drop, for locals, this is just a fact of life - barbers cut hair, chefs cook meals and children play along the tracks, all of whom dart away with each passing train. After a few seconds of thundering noise, life returns to normal.
Ashit Desai, who took these fascinating photos, said that the locals simply just “know when the train is coming so they all move out of the way – it is a part of their routine.”
There are about 5000 illegal railway crossings in Vietnam that lack safe-barriers and/or warning signs. As a result railway-related accidents are common, causing nearly 2% of all deaths annually in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese government is currently seeking a $1.7 billion investment to improve safety along its nearly over 3,000km of tracks.
[Daily Mail]
