Laos, which has long been constrained by its inland geographical environment, is about to usher in its first railway channel directly connecting to the ocean. Recently, at the Laos Vietnam Investment Promotion Conference, officials from both countries jointly announced a clear plan to promote the Vientiane Yong'an cross-border railway, marking substantial progress in key infrastructure for Laos' transformation into a "land linked country".

According to the announced schedule, the project is scheduled to commence construction in 2026 and achieve full line operation by 2030. The railway is planned to have a total length of approximately 571 kilometers and a total investment of nearly 6.6 billion US dollars. It will be promoted through PPP cooperation between Laos Petroleum Trading Company (PTL) and Vietnam Dashan Investment Co., Ltd. (Deo Ca).

The route is divided into two main parts: a section of about 452 kilometers within Laos, extending from Vientiane to the Laos Vietnam border; The section within Vietnam is about 119 kilometers long, connecting from the border Chalo Port to the Yong'an Deepwater Port in Ha Tinh Province. At present, Laos has stated that about 90% of the preliminary work for the project has been completed, while Vietnam is conducting economic and technical evaluations and preliminary designs, and plans to start construction of the domestic section in 2027.

After the completion of the project, it will be smoothly connected with the already opened China Laos Railway, forming a complete international logistics channel. Laos will also obtain priority use rights for terminals 1 to 3 of Yong'an Port according to the agreement. Terminal 3 has been put into operation since April 2025 and can accommodate large cargo ships with an annual throughput of over 2 million tons. This railway will directly connect the transportation links between Laos' inland and maritime ports, significantly reducing the logistics costs of exported commodities such as minerals and agricultural products, and providing convenience for imported fuels, machinery and equipment.

Yong'an Port has a superior geographical location, only a few hundred kilometers away from ports in southern China such as Hainan and the Beibu Gulf of Guangxi. It is expected to become a regional hub in central Vietnam, Laos, and even northeastern Thailand. The Vientiane Yong'an Railway will not only provide strong support for Laos to break through the bottleneck of "land blockade", but also have the potential to gradually connect with railway networks in Thailand, Cambodia and other countries in the future, promoting the overall formation of the railway system in the Indochina Peninsula. Keywords: overseas engineering, international engineering construction, foreign engineering construction news

As the 2026 construction target approaches, the Vientiane Yong'an railway is moving from blueprint to reality. This railway is not only a strategic project for Laos to achieve its "dream of going abroad", but also an important part of deepening regional connectivity in the Indochina Peninsula. It carries the development vision of Laos from a "landlocked country" to a "land linked country", and will also inject new impetus into the economic and trade cooperation and logistics integration of the entire region. Editor/Xu Shengpeng