'Train street' lures tourists

Attraction in slum: Colonial-era locomotive passes within touching distance

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Tourists snatch arms and legs away from a passing train in Hanoi, shrinking back into railside cafes that have brought lucrative business to a former slum disdained by the government. Authorities have repeatedly tried to shut down the tumble-down quarter of the Vietnamese capital for safety reasons, but any closure seems unlikely as social media brings more visitors to the area.

"I feel adrenaline because the train was so close," Helena Bizonova from Slovakia said, standing centimeters from the colonial-era locomotive chugging past at 10km an hour.

The lantern-adorned tracks—and the elegant cafes that line them—are well known online and "something that I will never experience in my life again," she said.