CHENGDU, China, Dec. 6, 2021 — On December 4th, 2021, international trains of the China-Laos Railway (Chengdu/Chongqing–Vientiane) laden with light commercial trucks, nuts, motorcycle parts, chemical products and other goods respectively departed from the Chengdu International Railway Port and the Chongqing International Logistics Hub Park, and will pass by Yunnan Province, then arrive at the Laotian capital Vientiane in no more than three days.
Inaugural Departure of International Trains of China-Laos Railway (Chengdu/Chongqing-Vientiane)
The train departing from Chengdu carries light commercial trucks manufactured by Sinotruk Chengdu Commercial Vehicle, an enterprise based in Qingbaijiang. In the past, the company had to arrange for drivers to directly drive products from Chengdu to export and deliver to Vientiane over a route of around 2,000 km spanning roughly ten days on the road. This transportation time has been substantially reduced to merely three days thanks to the opening of the China-Laos Railway.
"Compared with the traditional highway transportation, railway transportation not only considerably reduces labor costs and saves time, but the new option is also safer and more reliable, in addition to other benefits such as freight protection that can better preserve product integrity," explained Wu Kunsheng, the responsible person of Sinotruk Chengdu Commercial Vehicle.
The China-Laos Railway starts at Yunnan Province in the north, and passes through the Mohan Port at the Chinese-Laotian border before arriving at the Laotian capital Vientiane. It is one of the many large-scale projects undertaken between China and ASEAN coutries. The opening of the China-Laos Railway will promote mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Laos, and the interconnectivity between involved regions.
"Focusing on the normalized operation of the China-Laos Railway, Chengdu will partner with Laos to jointly build multimodal transport and transshipment center, storage and logistics industrial park, agriculture demonstration park, etc. based on actual logistics demands, so as to promote the integrated development of transportation and trade," remarked Chen Zejun, General Manager of Chengdu International Railway Service Co., Ltd.
The Chengdu International Railway Port is an important gateway hub for China’s opening-up efforts toward the west and the south. At present, an international train network and global land-sea freight delivery system that revolves around Chengdu, extends westward into Europe, reaches northward in Mongolia and Russia, links eastward with Japan and the Republic of Korea, and expands southward into the ASEAN bloc have been established. At present, this network is connected with 67 cities outside of China and 20 cities within. According to railway-maritime intermodal train departure data on the Chengdu-Qinzhou-ASEAN route, nearly 10,000 containers of train cargoes worth more than USD 100 million were exported southward in 2020. The commencement of the China-Laos Railway will further bolster the Chengdu International Railway Port’s effort in expanding its southward international railway conduits.
Next, the Chengdu International Railway Port will make the most out of the opportunities inherent in the construction of the China-Laos Railway, so as to position Chengdu as an international logistics and transshipment hub that connects inland Europe with East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as a gateway hub linking the pan-Europe and pan-Asia regions with the central and western parts of China. At the same time, efforts will be spared to expand intermediary trade with ASEAN and Europe, and active steps will be taken to create a cross-border international production capacity cooperation demonstration zone.
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Caption: Inaugural Departure of International Trains of China-Laos Railway (Chengdu/Chongqing–Vientiane)