Southeast Asia’s land-based multimodal network saw the start of a new link that forms part of the Kunming- Singapore Railway project following the start of work on a high-speed 427km rail line from the Laos to China. Th e US$6 billion project will run from the Laotian capital of Vientiane to Boten, a Laos border town on the Chinese border and will form one link in the Kunming-Singapore Railway project, which will eventually stretch 3,000km through China, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

Th e Lao portion will connect with the Chinese rail network up to Kunming in the north and with Thailand’s railway network from Nong Khai, which lies across the Mekong River from Vientiane, in the south. Th e link, expected to to be completed in about five years, will form a key part of the ambitious Kunming- Singapore Railway project, which will eventually stretch 3,000km through China, Laos, Thailand and Malaysia.

The single-track line will include 11 passenger stations, 170 bridges stretching a total of 69km (or 16 per cent of the total line) and 72 tunnels totalling 183km (43 per cent of the total line).

Trains will be able to run at speeds of up to 200kph on the fl at stretch of track between Vientiane and Vang Vieng.