China-Laos Railway roars in full swing today, brings Laos into modern transport era amid BRI endeavor

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China-Laos Railway roars in full swing today, brings Laos into modern transport era amid BRI endeavor by GT staff reporters, Dec 03 2021

The 1,035-kilometer-long China-Laos Railway, a signature project under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, officially went into full operation on Friday, catapulting the landlocked Southeast Asian nation into a Chinese standard-powered modern railway era that honors China’s promise of enabling inclusive growth along the BRI routes.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith witnessed the opening of the railway via video link.

The opening of the China-Laos Railway will make Laos‘ dream of becoming a land-linked hub come true. China will ensure the maintenance and security of the railway and build high-quality, sustainable and people-friendly economic belts along the route, President Xi told Thongloun via video link.

The China-Laos Railway, the biggest public project in Laos‘ history, links Kunming of Southwest China’s Yunnan Province with Laos‘ capital Vientiane, including a 106-kilometer section from Kunming to Yuxi in Yunnan with a designed speed of 200 kilometers per hour, which had already been put into operation in December 2016.

The newly built 507-kilometer section connecting Yuxi and Mohan, a border town in Yunnan, with a designed speed of 160 kilometers per hour, adds to another 422-kilometer new section from Mohan to Vientiane, also designed to travel at 160 kilometers per hour, China Railway said in a statement sent to the Global Times.

The Yuxi-Mohan section was built by China Railway Kunming Group, while the Mohan-Vientiane section, largely within Laos, was built by a China-Laos joint venture.

As a landmark project of the BRI as well as China-Laos friendship that entirely adopts Chinese standards, the railway will provide strong support for accelerating the completion of the China-Laos Economic Corridor and building a China-Laos community with a shared future, read the China Railway statement.

The China-Laos railway is envisioned to directly boost cargo connectivity, turning Laos from a landlocked nation into a logistics center in the Southeast Asian region, facilitating interconnectedness between not only China and Laos, but also between Laos and ASEAN and between China and ASEAN, Gu Xiaosong, dean of the ASEAN Research Institute of Hainan Tropical Ocean University, told the Global Times on Friday.

The railway will be a big boost to Laos‘ economy, Gu said, expecting commodities hailing from Southeast Asia to be shipped to China via Yunnan before being exported to Europe through China-Europe freight trains for there to be wider-ranging connectivity between the two continents.

More investments are expected in Laos after the railway opens, as businesses will be promoted, the expert said.