At present, a short metre-gauge branch of the Thai network which crosses the River Mekong from Nong Khai to reach a railhead at Tha Na Laeng is the only railway in Laos.

The three contracts were awarded by Laos-China Railway Co Ltd to China Railway No 5 Engineering Group, China Railway International Group and China Railway No 8 Engineering Group, with a total value of 8.13 billion yuan.

This means that China Railway Group has won a total of four of six lots for the project, as yet another subsidiary China Railway No 2 Engineering Group was previously awarded a 2.28 billion yuan contract covering Section Four of the project.

Once completed, the 414 km standard gauge Boten-Vientiane Highway will start at Mohan on the China-Laos border and run south to the capital Vientiane and the Thai border town of Nong Khai. There will be 31 stations in total, including the cities of Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng. Additionally, the line will connect with China’s Yuxi-Mohan railway, as well as Thailand’s metre-gauge line leading to Bangkok.

The highway’s single track electrified mixed traffic line will be built to China’s GB Grade 1 standards, with suitable alignment for 160 km/h passenger and 120 km/h freight services. Due to mountainous terrain, a total of 258.5 km of bridges and tunnels will be needed. The total cost of the highway is estimated at 37.4 billion yuan.

APMEN News, Nov 2016