(Yicai) Nov. 19 -- The China-Laos Railway, a landmark project in the Belt and Road Initiative, has exceeded the freight trains volume of the China-Vietnam Railway despite opening four years later in late 2021, thanks to linking with Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries.

The number of freight trains running on the China-Laos Railway surged 37 percent to 6,525 in the ten months ended Oct. 31 from a year earlier, according to the latest data released by China's General Administration of Customs. The figure soared 47 percent to 1,700 on the China-Vietnam Railway.

The high number of China-Laos Railway freight trains is mainly due to many goods from Thailand passing through Laos, Lei Xiaohua, deputy director of the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, told Yicai. The rapid growth in mineral production in Laos also leads to an increase in cargo transported via the railroad, Lei added.

While Laos only boasts a population of around 7 million, its rail corridor with China improved significantly with Thailand's inclusion, Shi Benzhi, a professor at Yunnan University's School of Economics, previously said to Yicai. Thailand's population tops 70 million, and it offers easier access to other Southeast Asian countries, such as Malaysia, amplifying the synergistic effects of the China-Laos Railway, Shi noted.

Regarding the difference in the freight volume between the two railroads, Lei pointed out that although a rail corridor connects China and Vietnam, an influential factor is that road transportation to Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is more common.

The number of standard containers originating from Guangxi shipped on the China-Vietnam Railway surged 1,274 percent to 12,998 in the first ten months of this year from a year ago, according to data by China State Railway Group. The figure reached 2,618 last month, breaking the monthly record for the fourth time this year.

The China-Laos Railway handled over 16 million passengers and more than 16 million tons of cargo in the first ten months, with cross-border cargo exceeding 4 million tons. Stimulated by this success, work on the China-Thailand and China-Vietnam rail corridors is also accelerating.

Thailand will make every effort to ensure the China-Thailand Railway project proceeds as planned, with expected completion and opening in 2028, it announced during the 31st meeting of the Joint Committee for Railway Cooperation between China and Thailand held in Beijing in early May.

China and Vietnam proposed advancing the signing of intergovernmental cooperation agreements for the construction of three standard-gauge railroads and continuing communication on relevant matters in a joint statement issued on Oct. 14.

Editor: Martin Kadiev