I stand with Dong Dang's transit riders

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gets off his train in Dong Dang, Vietnam on Tuesday. In preparation for his arrival, authorities had closed the station to the public since the previous day. (Photo courtesy of The National)

Dong Dang, Vietnam has an elegant rail station that puts America’s Amshacks to shame. Like so many transit hubs around the world, the small-town station near the Chinese border provides essential connectivity to the region it serves. Daily intercity trains travel to and from Hanoi, taking about four-and-a-half hours to complete the trip, and overnight trains to China also pass through.

But during the early part of this week, the station was closed to passengers. The reason: a guy from up north was approaching on a slow southbound train, headed down to Hanoi to meet a guy who hates trains regardless of their speed of travel.

Yep, Kim Jong-un chose rail as his transportation mode for travel to his summit with Donald Trump. Chinese analysts predicted Kim’s trip would cause major disruption to their country’s train network, even affecting its extensive high speed rail system. The Korean State Railway’s Pyongui (Pyongyang-Sinuiju) line was also undoubtedly crippled. If the Supreme Leader hopes to persuade the admins of the New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens Facebook group to allow posts that mention his country, these delays didn’t help his cause.

But Dong Dang experienced the greatest injustice. Kim treated the town as his personal Bakersfield, terminating his armored train there and transferring to a road-based option (in this case, a limo) to continue on to Vietnam’s capital. To accommodate his paranoia, officials shut down the station a day before his Tuesday morning arrival. 

    

The New York Times and other media outlets incorrectly reported that Kim couldn’t proceed to Hanoi by rail because a break of gauge prevented his train from operating on Vietnam’s tracks. While it’s true that China (like North Korea) has standard (4 ft. 8.5 in.) gauge tracks and Vietnam has narrower meter-gauge tracks, the Hanoi-Dong Dang line’s dual-gauge design allows it to carry trains built for either country’s track geometry, facilitating relatively seamless international mobility.

Thus, it’s not clear why Kim’s train had to offload in Dong Dang. But because it did, any stranded regional rail riders hoping to take the bus to Hanoi were also out of luck, as the road to the capital closed for eight hours to accommodate the leader’s motorcade.

Dong Dang's rail station on a better day. (Photo courtesy of Yhxc57082, via Wikipedia)

I’ve dealt with WMATA weekend track work, fumed aboard buses stuck in car congestion, and sat on Amtrak trains slowed by freight. I’ve even experienced politician-related transit disruptions, as Trump and Vice President Mike Pence occasionally give speeches at DC’s National Building Museum during which the Secret Service obstructs access to Metro’s Judiciary Square Station.

But I’ve never had to tolerate a service suspension caused by a totalitarian dictator.

So, as the world watches this week’s events in Hanoi, my thoughts are fixated on the transit riders of Dong Dang. Tonight, I feel their pain.