This aerial photo taken on Jan. 2, 2023 shows a Lane Xang EMU train running on the Lao section of the China-Laos Railway. As of Tuesday, the China-Laos Railway had operated 20,000 passenger trains and handled 10.3 million passenger trips since its launch in December 2021, the railway operator said Wednesday.((Photo: Xinhua)
The China-Laos Railway opened for cross-border passenger train service on Thursday, after rail authorities of both countries officially started to sell international passenger train tickets online and at train stations on Tuesday.
China Media Group (CMG) reported that the whole trip from Kunming in Southwest China's Yunnan Province to Vientiane in Laos will take 10.5 hours. First-class tickets are available for 760 yuan ($110.57), while second-class seats cost 470 yuan, which became available for sale on Tuesday.
Each train has nine coaches and a maximum of 720 passengers. The cross-border train has four stops in Laos' territory - capital Vientiane, famous tourism city Vang Vieng, World Heritage town Luang Prabang, and China-Laos border city Boten.
In March, Laos-China Railway Co launched LCR Ticket, a mobile phone application that supports ticket inquiries, reservations, online payments, ticket changes and refunds.
The application supports Chinese, Lao and English, which will make it easier for passengers to book train tickets on the route.
"All cross-border trains will serve passengers in Putonghua, the Dai language, Lao and English. All of us are eager to give our best service," a representative from China Railway Kunming Group in Yunnan told the Global Times on Tuesday.
A manager at a travel agency said that because of the railway it is developing travel products that include Laos and neighboring countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
The China-Laos Railway has become the artery of regional tourism development, as it travels through northern Laos' Luang Prabang province, one of Laos' most attractive scenic spots. It only takes two hours from Vientiane to the province via the railway.
"Laos' pristine tourism resources and improving tourist services, including hotels and restaurants, are quite attractive with Chinese tourists, and the train will definitely increase the popularity of Lao scenic spots in China," Jia Jianqiang, CEO of Beijing-based online agency 6renyou, who just finished his field trip of Laos' tourism market, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Xu Xiaolei, marketing manager at China's CYTS Tours Holding Co, told the Global Times on Thursday that the passenger service will be key to wider bilateral economic cooperation, including tourism.
A CMG report citing official data said that in the first 10 months of 2022, a total of 335,000 passengers arrived in Luang Prabang province using the railway, accounting for 85 percent of the tourist volume in the province.
Xu noted that accessibility by convenient and rapid transportation is important for scenic spots, and the much larger transport capacity of the trains will greatly boost Laos' inbound tourism market and economic development.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during a regular press conference on Thursday that as of Sunday, the China-Laos Railway had transported 13.93 million passengers and 18.38 million tons of cargo, as it played an essential role in regional logistics networks connecting China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
