This steel artery connecting Kunming, China and Vientiane, Laos, with a total length of 1035 kilometers, is beating at an unprecedented busy pace, but it is also facing "growing troubles": like an increasingly crowded two-way single lane highway, all trains traveling north and south must intersect within limited stations, which will push the transportation capacity to its limit.

Both passenger and freight are thriving, highlighting the golden channel effect

In 2025, the passenger and freight transport volume of the China Laos railway will achieve a strong double growth, with 19.51 million passengers sent throughout the year, an increase of 2.1% year on year; The transportation volume of goods was 24.48 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 24.6%. Among them, the cross-border cargo transportation volume was 5.46 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 17.9%, covering 31 provinces (regions, cities) in China and 19 countries and regions including Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, etc. The types of cross-border transported goods have expanded to more than 3800.

In terms of passenger transport, the domestic section of the China Laos Railway has sent 15.63 million passengers, with a maximum of 86 passenger trains operating in a single day; The Laos section has sent 3.88 million passengers, with a maximum of 18 passenger trains operating in a single day. The number of international passenger trains operating between Kunming, China and Vientiane, Laos has increased to 4, with a total of 282000 cross-border passengers sent, providing great convenience for cross-border tourism, learning, business and other activities.

Single line bottleneck highlighted, transportation capacity has reached the design limit

The total length of the China Laos Railway from Kunming to Vientiane is 1035 km, of which the section from Banna to Vientiane South via Mohan/Boten is a single track design. Due to the complex terrain and large design gradient, the maximum freight traction capacity of the bottleneck section of the railway in Laos is 2500 tons, the upper limit of freight transport speed is 120 km per hour, and the design annual cargo handling capacity is 5 million tons.

In 2024, the cross-border freight volume of the China Laos Railway will be 4.794 million tons, and in 2025, it will exceed 5 million tons, reaching 5.46 million tons. At present, the cross-border freight volume of the China Laos Railway has reached the design upper limit in the bottleneck section, and the transport capacity has been saturated, which has become a prominent weakness restricting its future development.

The capacity enhancement project has been launched, and the construction of double tracks has been put on the agenda

Faced with urgent transportation pressure, the railway departments of China and Laos have launched capacity enhancement projects. In February 2025, the transportation reinforcement project of Laos section (Boten Vientiane) of China Laos Railway will be started, and it is planned to be completed in July 2026, with a total investment of about 475 million yuan. The six reinforcement measures include: improving the capacity of transmission lines, renovating and expanding freight stations, strengthening safety monitoring, improving housing construction, enhancing traction and substation capabilities, and improving special cargo transportation facilities.

In November 2025, the domestic section of the China Laos Railway (Kunming Mohan) will also start the capacity improvement project. It is planned to open 10 reserved slow start stations in Yuxi Xishuangbanna and Xishuangbanna Mohan sections. After the completion of the capacity enhancement project, it can alleviate the current transportation pressure in the short term and improve the passenger and freight transportation capacity of the railway in Laos. Keywords: international news, transportation information, railway construction

However, the inherent limitations of a single line cannot be fundamentally changed through local modifications. With the extension of the China Laos Railway to Thailand and Malaysia, especially the interconnection of the China Laos Thailand standard gauge railway around 2031, the problems of insufficient transport capacity and overload will still be prominent. Therefore, it has become an inevitable choice to start the demonstration and planning of the construction of the Laos section of the China Laos Railway and study the feasibility of adding freight dedicated lines to support the long-term vision of regional connectivity.Editor/Yang Meiling