Laos-China railway project construction commences
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Laos and China broke ground in Vientiane Wednesday to kick off construction of the historic railway project linking Vientiane with the Chinese border over a distance of 427.2 kilometres.
Secretary general of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and president of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Choummaly Sayasone and other leaders, chairman of the National People’s Congress (NPC) of China, Zhang Dejiang and officials of both sides attended the groundbreaking ceremony in the Lao capital.
The groundbreaking ceremony took place as people across the country celebrated the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Dec 2, 1975 – Dec 2, 2015).
Lao Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the project Somsavat Lengsavad told the ceremony that construction of the 38.7 billion yuan (US$6.04 billion) Vientiane-Boten railway would take about five years to complete.
The 1.435-metre standard-gauge railway will connect the Chinese railway at the Chinese border with Thailand’s planned rail line at the Thai border in Nong Khai province via Laos.
The single-track line consists of 21 sidings enabling trains to pass, 11 passenger stations and one freight container station. The railway composes 170 bridges totalling 69 kilometres in length or 16 per cent of the total length, and 72 tunnels amounting to 183 kilometres or 43 per cent of the total length.
The electricity-powered passenger train is set to run at a speed of 160 km per hour and 120 km per hour for the freight train. However, passenger trains could run at speeds of 200 kilometres per hour on flat terrain from Vangvieng to Vientiane.
Some 50 metres of land along each side of the rail line will be preserved for the project to ensure safe operations in accordance with international standards. It was reported previously that China would be responsible for 70 per cent of the total investment, with Laos responsible for the remainder.
Somsavat told the ceremony that relevant sectors of both sides were preparing the necessary preliminary work to allow the project to proceed according to plan.
He said the project would be a catalyst of the Lao government’s efforts in switching the nation from being landlocked into a land-linked one contributing significantly to countrywide socio-economic development.
He said the project, which coincides with the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping, would contribute to increased friendly relations and cooperation between Laos and China, and between China and Asean.
Chinese officials said their government had attached great importance to realising the project that would boost cooperation between Laos and China and between China and the region.
The Vientiane-Boten railway will form part of the regional rail link known as the Kunming-Singapore rail network over a distance of 3,000km. The rail line will link China’s Kunming all the way down to Singapore, passing through Laos, Thailand and Malaysia.
It was reported that the governments of Thailand and China have engaged in talks to develop the rail network in Thailand, while Singapore and Malaysia have also agreed to build a high speed rail link between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore by 2020.
