Snapshots of trams reminisce about old Hanoi

Nhat Minh

Dec 21, 2020 / 12:35 PM

The trams have been an inseparable part of the city’s landscape for more than two thirds of a century.

The tinkle of trams running around the city center has remained a reminiscent of the past, a beautiful memory for many generations of Hanoians.

Today, there are no trams running around Hanoi, but a century ago, this train used to be the most modern public transport means in the capital. Photo: Gunter Mosle

Tram lines run from the Hoan Kiem Lake area to the gates of the city and Ha Dong district (10 km from downtown). The above picture is a single-coach tram running through Dong Xuan market after 1975. By early 1990, the trams were removed. Photo: Tynesider.

Trams used to be a popular public means of transport for people from all walks of life in Hanoi in the 20th century. In May 1900, the French built the Hanoi tram factory and tramway tracks. The tram remained an important mass public transport means until the end of the 20th century. Photo: Von Frank.

Each tram has two or three cars, the first car was divided into two classes of seats: the first and the second. First class passengers sit on cushioned longitudinal seats while second class consisted of hard seats arranged in transverse layout. Photo: Thomas Billhardt.

Today, the tinkle of tram is still sounding in the memory of Hanoians. The tram has been an inseparable part of the city’s landscape for more than two thirds of a century. Photo: Thomas Billhardt.

Now, the younger generation could only see the trams, a part of Hanoi’s past, through pictures, songs, and poems. German photographer Thomas Billhardt has recorded precious documentary images about Hanoi and the city's transport in the 1970s. Photo: Thomas Billhardt.

The roads of Quan Thanh, Kim Ma, Dinh Tien Hoang, Nguyen Khuyen, where tramway tracks used to run. Nowadays, no trace of unique means of Hanoi is left. Instead, the street is filled with various means of transportation either private or public. Photo: Gunter Mosle.

In modern times, with new means of transport, few people remember or mention the tram. Only people of the old generations feel nostalgic about the tram tinkle. Photo: Gunter Mosle.