Laos-China high-speed railway put into services

The railway linking Laos and China, also the first high-speed railway in Laos, was put into operation at a ceremony held on December 3.

The 1,035-km electrified passenger and cargo railway, connecting Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan province with the Lao capital, Vientiane, fully adopts Chinese technical standards and consists of two sections, China’s Xinhua news agency said.

Construction of the section in Laos from the border town of Boten to Vientiane started in December 2016, and construction of the section in China from the city of Yuxi to border town of Mohan started in December 2015.

With a maximum operating speed of 160 km per hour, the travel time from Kunming to Vientiane takes about 10 hours, including customs clearance time.

The railway will bring a significant reduction in transport costs, by some 30-50 percent depending on the method of calculation, and is expected to increase trade flows between China and Laos to 3.7 million tons by 2030, according to the World Bank./.

VNA