First international passenger train on China-Laos Railway departs

The China-Laos Railway officially launched its cross-border passenger train service on April 13, ahead of Pi Mai Lao (Lao New Year Festival), with two international trains – No. D888 and D887 – running from Vientiane Station and Kunming South Station to mark the beginning of a new era of cross-border travel.

A passenger train of the China-Laos Railway.
The international passenger service of China-Laos Railway runs from morning to evening, with one bidirectional train each day and stops at eight stations in Vientiane, Vangvieng, Luang Prabang, Boten, Mohan, Xishuangbanna, Pu’er and Kunming.
The full travel time, including the time for customs clearance at railway ports, is 10 hours and 30 minutes, and the same day is accessible from Vientiane, Laos to Kunming, China.
A couple from China, Mr Li Jin and Ms Li Chensi, snagged tickets for the first train on April 11, the opening day of sales. “We are here for our honeymoon and plan to take a direct train from Kunming to Luang Prabang,” Mr Li Jin said. He has a special status as a technical engineer of the China Railway Construction Group, which was involved in constructing stations for the China-Laos Railway at Luang Prabang, Vangvieng and Kasy, and the trip has special significance for him. The couple’s wedding, originally scheduled for 2020, was postponed to help build the China-Laos Railway. “After the China-Laos Railway opened, we arranged a honeymoon trip to Laos and I took my lover to visit the station house whose construction I participated in,” Mr Li Jin said.
Since its opening more than a year ago, the China-Laos Railway has played an active role as a “golden channel”. By April 6, 2023, the railway had operated 11,979 pairs of passenger trains that carried 13.78 million passengers, and 16,396 cargo trains that ferried 18.21 million tonnes of goods.
The Laos section of the railway has operated a total of 15,21.5 pairs of trains that carried 2.15 million passengers, 1,976 freight trains that transported 4.05 million tonnes of cargo, and the cross-border cargo volume reached 3.56 million tonnes.
“This year, Luang Prabang ushered in the liveliest water sprinkling festival in the past three years. I am very proud of the changes brought to my hometown by the China-Laos Railway,” said Mr Bounthavi, a translator for the China-Laos Railway Station Building Project of China Railway Construction Group. As a local resident of Laos, Mr Bounthavi has witnessed the convenience and changes brought to his hometown by the opening of the railway. He said that with the opening of the China-Laos railway, traveling by train from Vientiane, Laos, to Luang Prabang, a key tourist city, has become the first choice. Especially during the Lao New Year Festival, Luang Prabang has a steady stream of tourists, and local hotels are “hard to get a room”. The villagers feel the development and changes brought by the China-Laos railway, and are full of expectations for the future development of their hometown.
The launch of the China-Laos Railway international passenger train has greatly facilitated train travel and sightseeing for the people of the two countries, and is of great significance to promoting the development of tourism and other industries and economic and trade exchanges between the two countries.