On January 26, 2023, a delegation from the Thai railway and customs departments visited Laos. The two sides discussed ways to further strengthen cross-border transportation cooperation, including cooperation with China's China-Laos-Thailand Railway. Thailand and Laos are negotiating on the China-Laos-Thailand railway connection plan, which may reduce the cost of freight transportation by 30%-50% in the next 3 to 5 years, according to DRT, the Ministry of Railway Transport of Thailand.

Thai officials said that in 2022, the value of import and export trade at the Thai-Laos border checkpoint in Nong Khai Province will be 99.2 billion baht, or about 20.46 billion yuan. Despite the impact of the new crown epidemic, compared with the previous year, Thailand's cross-border trade will still increase by 39.9% in 2022, and revenue will increase by 28.2 billion baht. The Thai government is currently developing the Nong Khai Railway Station. In the future, the station will become a cross-border cargo inspection center, connecting trains and land transportation, and will also be put into use as a customs inspection station and logistics center. After the Thailand-Laos railway network is opened to traffic, it is planned to operate 14 trains per day. The line will eventually be connected to the China-Laos Railway to improve the efficiency of international transport between China, Laos and Thailand.

China-Laos Railway

After the China-Laos Railway opened for operation on December 3, 2021, as of December 2, 2022, it has transported a total of 8.5 million passengers and 11.2 million tons of cargo within one year of operation. On October 6, 2022, when Thai Deputy Prime Minister Anutin visited Laos, he led 120 members of the government delegation and media representatives to experience the China-Laos Railway and spoke highly of it.

On July 1, 2022, the reloading yard at Vientiane South Railway Station was officially completed and put into use, realizing the connection between standard gauge and meter gauge, marking the further play of the interconnection of China-Laos-Thailand railway and the Pan-Asian channel of China-Laos railway.

At present, the first phase of the China-Thailand Railway Bangkok-Korat has entered the comprehensive construction stage and is expected to be put into operation in 2027. The second phase of the Korat-Nong Khai project has been designed and is expected to start in 2024, which will realize the connection with the China-Laos Railway. Editor/He Yuting