# A Ho Chi Minh City-bound train passes through Hanoi, where the line
doubles up as a pedestrian throughfare | Route: Ho Chi Minh city to Hanoi,
Vietnam; Miles: 1,078.; Notable passengers: the Viet Minh (they once ran an
armoured train up and down the line).; Dining car: buy from the hawkers on
station platforms-banh mi (Vietnamese baguettes) are a South Vietnamese
speciality.; Sit on: the right-hand side for sea views at Ocean Cloud Pass
SYNONYMOUS with
delays, smelly feet and a propensity to travel barely faster than walking pace,
the Reunification Express nonetheless has a special in the Vietnamese national
story. Known officially as the North-South Railway, it became a symbol of the
reunited nation when-after years of being sliced in two-it finally reopened in
1975, reconnecting the twin metropolises of Hanoi and Ho chi Minh City
(formerly Saigon). It also helps that it runs through some of the most
spectacular scenery in Southeast Asia. Services rattle through a mosaic of rice
paddies and sluggish rivers, thatched farmsteads and grazing water buffalo. The
scenic highlight comes midway on the line, just after Danang, where trains inch
between green mountains and the rock shores of the South china Sea-a stretch
poetically known a ‘Ocean Cloud Pass’. The line may eventually be upgraded for
high-speed services – go now while you
can still appreciate it in slow motion.
Five trains depart Ho Chi Minh City for Hanoi daily, taking
around 30 hours (air conditioned 1st class berth, vr.com.vn)
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