A senior rail engineer in Kunming told media sources that the stretch of line to Mengzi is already done and the extension as far as Hekou Yao is due for completion before the end of the year. From the Chinese border, the blueprint for the central part of the rail link calls for a line to be built through Laos.
The track will run to Vientiane and then cross the Mekong River via an existing bridge. The line through Thailand will use some existing tracks but also requires new ones to be laid. China uses standard gauge track, but Thailand and other nations on the planned network do not.
In a report on the project, China Railway Tunnel senior engineer Wang Mengshu says tracks need to be standardised to save the hassle of unloading and reloading cargos on the trains. He said this would also mean passengers would not have to change trains at every border crossing.
12GO ASIA sells tickets for bus and train routes in Thailand as far as Nong Khai. Once the new Trans-Asian services are launched we will be offering reservations for them.
China to speed up Yunnan Thailand train line construction
News in Asia
Chinese officials say they are certain a new train line linking the country’s southern Yunnan Province and Thailand will be completed on schedule. The Chinese end of the Trans-Asian Railway will run from the Yunnanese capital of Kunming to Rayong on the northern shore of the Gulf of Thailand.