Laos: From land locked to land linked

Laos is embarking on one of its most ambitious projects yet—a series of rail networks which will link the country with dominant seaports in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. With a population of about 6.7 million, Laos aims to lift itself from the status of least-developed nation to a middle-income country by 2030 by strengthening international economic partnerships, Savankhone Razmountry, Vice Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, told Asia News Network news editors recently.

In partnership with China, the strategically designed networks are part of the Beijing-inspired One Belt and One Road Initiative, which Laos hopes will help turn it from a land-locked nation into one which effectively links various countries.

The beneficial rail networks will serve both passengers and freight, particularly from China’s adjacent southern-most province of Yunnan. Merchandise will have global market access with the development of not only seaports in Vietnam and Cambodia but also primarily connecting Thailand’s already well-established Laem Chabang deep-sea port, which lies 670 kilometres south of Vientiane.

Thailand itself is developing a railway network with Laos via two rail projects in the Northeast. During the BRICS Summit held a few days ago in in China’s Xiamen City, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha witnessed the signing of the design and supervised draft contracts for the first phase of the railway project which is a parallel new high-speed train project in partnership with China. The first phase is a 253-kilometre-long railway track, which will allow trains to hit speeds of up to 250 km per hour, linking the Thailand’s capital Bangkok to its northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima.

In the second phase, the line will run from Nakhon Ratchasima to Nong Khai on the border with Laos, where it will connect with the China-Laos railway presently under construction.

After the whole project steams to completion, Bangkok and Kunming—the capital of Yunnan province in China’s southwest —will be connected by the modern railway.Now, work on the Lao-China Rail is already on track, from the Lao border town of Boten. More than 8 per cent of the work on the 414km route to Vientiane has been done. (The Nation, Thailand)

Laos: From land locked to land linked

Laos is embarking on one of its most ambitious projects yeta series of rail networks which will link the country with dominant seaports in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. With a population of about 6.7 million, Laos aims to lift itself from the status of least-developed nation to a middle-income country by 2030 by strengthening international economic partnerships, Savankhone Razmountry, Vice Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, told Asia News Network news editors recently. In partnership with China, the strategically designed networks are part of the Beijing-inspired One Belt and One Road Initiative, which Laos hopes will help turn it from a land-locked nation into one which effectively links various countries. The beneficial rail networks will serve both passengers and freight, particularly from Chinas adjacent southern-most province of Yunnan. Merchandise will have global market access with the development of not only seaports in Vietnam and Cambodia but also primarily connecting Thailands already well-established Laem Chabang deep-sea port, which lies 670 kilometres south of Vientiane. Thailand itself is developing a railway network with Laos via two rail projects in the Northeast. During the BRICS Summit held a few days ago in in Chinas Xiamen City, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha witnessed the signing of the design and supervised draft contracts for the first phase of the railway project which is a parallel new high-speed train project in partnership with China. The first phase is a 253-kilometre-long railway track, which will allow trains to hit speeds of up to 250 km per hour, linking the Thailands capital Bangkok to its northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima. In the second phase, the line will run from Nakhon Ratchasima to Nong Khai on the border with Laos, where it will connect with the China-Laos railway presently under construction. After the whole project steams to completion, Bangkok and Kunmingthe capital of Yunnan province in Chinas southwest will be connected by the modern railway.Now, work on the Lao-China Rail is already on track, from the Lao border town of Boten.More than 8 per cent of the work on the 414km route to Vientiane has been done. (The Nation, Thailand)