A high-speed train on a section of China-Laos Railway in Yuxi, Southwest China's Yunnan Province Photo: VCG

The overall shipment of goods on the China-Laos Railway reached 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) on Saturday, nine months after the railway's operation, linking 30 Chinese provinces and eight Southeast Asian economies, CCTV reported on Saturday. 

As of Friday, customs at Mohan Port in Southwest China's Yunnan Province which borders Laos have checked 1,868 cross-border freight trains since the railway entered operation on December 3, 2021. The cumulative shipments reached 1.28 million tons with 340,000 tons of export cargo and 940,000 tons of import cargo, according to a report by Yunnan.cn. 

The China-Laos Railway has become a vital connection channel between China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China's largest trade partner. The 1,035-kilometer-long railway can save transport cost by 40-50 percent. 

To date, the China-Laos Railway's accepted freight has been enlarged to cover electronic products, photovoltaic modules and telecommunication parts and many other items.

The railway was also opened to passengers, with a total of 5.54 million tickets sold as of early August, people.cn reported.

Chinese Ambassador to Laos Jiang Zaidong said on Friday that the China-Laos Railway is a success story under the Belt & Road Initiative, which has been operating safely for over 270 days thanks to the efforts of both sides. 

Officials from Laos were confident about the development of the railway in the future, and vowed to enhance the security to maintain normal operation of the railway. 

Meanwhile, Yunnan government has released a three-year-outline of building the province into an international transport hub based on the thriving China-Laos Railways.

Global Times