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Laos-Thailand railway link set for expansion next year

Xinhua, December 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Phase II of the Laos-Thailand railway, which will see the line extended from the suburbs to central Vientiane, is set to resume after the project was suspended in 2011, said local officials.

The line will be built over a distance of 7.5 km to link the track from the outlying Thanalaeng railway station in Hadxaifong district to the inner city, Sonesack N. Nhansana, Deputy Director General of the Lao Railway Department said on Thursday, adding that the government has instructed authorities to resume construction of the railway in line with the original plan.

The project was previously suspended because Lao authorities wanted to study in detail how the 1-meter standard gauge of Laos-Thailand track could be joined to the 1.435-meter standard-gauge track width of the planned Laos-China railway, according to a report by state-run Vientiane Times.

The authorities have now agreed that one of the stations planned for Vientiane as part of the Laos-China railway, which will link Vientiane to the Chinese border, will be built in Thanalaeng village so that the two lines are integrated.

Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith recently visited Thanalaeng railway station where he was briefed on the progress of the Laos-Thailand rail link. The PM suggested to resume construction in 2017.

Sonesack said resumption of the project would be possible and financing was available as Thailand had provided more than 203 billion Lao kip (over 24.85 million U.S. dollars), of which 30 percent was in the form of a grant and 70 percent was a low-interest loan. Once construction resumes, it will take about two years to complete the project.

Thanalaeng railway station, the only station on Laos' 3.5 km existing railway that runs to Thailand's Nong Khai province, handles 2,500 to 3,000 passengers a month, according to Deputy Head of the Railway Management Division Khamphet Sisamouth, who said that more people were using the service these days.

The railway only transports passengers at present, but freight transport is set to be provided in the near future following completion of a container yard. Endit