Railway sees cross-border cargo up 33.6% in Q1

Customs officers check the containers of inbound trains via China-Laos Railway. Photo/Kunming Customs

In the first quarter of this year, China-Laos Railway transported a record-high 1.38 million tons of import and export goods, an increase of 33.6% year-on-year. The railway has operated more than 10,000 trains for international freight.

 

A freight train runs on China-Laos Railway.

"The cargo varieties for international trade have expanded from 583 in the beginning to more than 3,000 now, and the daily number of freight trains has increased from 2 to 20,” said Geng Jianqiang, an officer at Mengla Customs, branch of Kunming Customs near the China-Laos border.

 

Passengers wait for their trains at a station of China-Laos Railway.

With the recovery of cross-border travel market in Southeast Asia and the implementation of visa-free policy between China and Thailand, more than 700 international passenger trains have been operated on China-Laos Railway, serving 58,200 cross-border travelers in the first quarter.

Reporting by Liu Ziyu (Yunnan Daily); Trans-editing by Wang Shixue