The China-Laos Railway performed well in the transport of both passengers and goods over the last month, boosting tourism, trade and bilateral exchanges.
The number of passenger trips on the railway reached 670,000, with goods reaching 170,000 metric tons as of Monday, one month after the opening in early December, according to China State Railway Group.
In the Chinese section, a train runs every half hour. The number of daily passenger trips grew from 19,000 to a peak of 33,000. In the Laotian section, demand is high, especially during weekends and holidays. The number of passenger trips reached a peak of 2,600 daily.
The line has provided rail transportation for the first time to the city of Pu'er and to Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture in Yunnan province. The number of travel orders in the two areas surged 92.4 percent and 59.9 percent, respectively, month-on-month.
The railway has also shortened time to transport goods between Kunming, Yunnan, and Vientiane, Laos, to about 30 hours, significantly decreasing transport costs by highway. Goods from more than 10 provinces and municipalities have been brought to cities in Laos. The number of international freight trains reached six per day during peak times.
Goods vary from rubber and chemical fertilizers to electronics, automobiles, textiles, vegetables and flowers, it said. With the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in effect, the volume of freight traffic will grow in the future, the railway group said.
The group said it would strengthen epidemic control and optimize policies on exports to lower logistics costs and improve efficiency.
