Train journey from Hanoi , Vietnam to Nanning , China
By Chin Siew Yin
I
have made a few trips by air before to Nanning , the provincial capital of Guangxi , Western China , bordering Vietnam . As a matter of curiosity after hearing a suggestion from friends of a cross border train service from Hanoi to Nanning , I decided to experience it for myself since I was early for an event in Nanning .
I booked the train ticket online and was issued with a e-voucher by email .
I took off from KLIA airport with AirAsia airline one morning in 2019 and arrived at the Hanoi airport by noon . The shuttle bus service from the airport took 30 minutes to reach the centre of Hanoi city . With the aid of a handphone translation facility , I managed to communicate with a local passenger on the recommended bus stop to alight to go to the Old Quarters district of Hanoi to spend the afternoon . The area around the scenic Hoan Kiem lake holds a lot of attractions , such as a water puppet theatre , the Grand Catholic Church built in 1886 , and the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum .
After enjoying a local popular dish , pho , for dinner , the shop assistant assisted me to call for a cab to the Gia Lam train station which is not at Hanoi city centre but at a small suburb area across the 120 year-old Long Bien steel bridge over the Red River . The trip took about 40 minutes going through the suburban area before reaching Gia Lam train station , an unimpressive single-storey building . The passenger hall is about the size of a classroom and there were not many passengers . There were occasional local trains making stops to other parts of the city .
As advised earlier , I bought some food stuff from a few shops in front of the station as no food would be served onboard the train . There is a small stall inside the hall where I left my luggage for a nominal fee since I was early . There is no fence guarding the railway tracks or platform and I took the opportunity to explore and took photos of the unique rail tracks and station .
Label of destination on the side of train
Gia Lam Railway station
The train service MR1 / T8702 is jointly operated by Vietnam Railways and China Railway , and is divided into two segments : MR1 service from Hanoi to Dong Dang , and T8702 service from Pingxiang to Nanning . This is an international railway service running between Vietnam and China .
One peculiar observation was the dual-gauge railway track system with three rails per track . Two rails on one side about 150 mm apart and the other slightly less than a meter away . This is to allow the use of both Vietnam trains with a narrower gauge and Chinese trains with a wider gauge , on the same railway line . One of the
TRAVEL FEATURE
71