The China-Laos Railway, a landmark infrastructure project of the Belt and Road Initiative, started cross-border passenger service on Thursday.
Two international passenger trains — one departing from Kunming, Yunnan province, and the other from Vientiane, Laos — headed toward each other on Thursday.
The international passenger train service allows passengers to reach either destination in a day.
When the China-Laos railway was built, foreign media raised many questions, saying that it would destroy the ecological environment along the line.
But along the way, we saw forests, lakes, and a particularly good ecological environment.
中老铁路沿线风光
The railway is 1,035 kilometers long and includes 167 tunnels and 301 bridges.
At that time, in order to open up this lifeline, the railway construction team had to cross the dangerous earthquake zones of the Hengduan Mountains, and areas full of undetonated bombs.
During the Vietnam War, the United States dropped more than two million tons of bombs in Laos.
At that time, Laos had only a population of about two million, so almost every Laotian could receive more than one ton of bombs on average.
When the China-Laos railway began construction in 2016, the Laotian Ministry of Defense even equipped a bomb disposal team.
On one side is bomb disposal and construction, on the other is bombs and war. China and the United States have met at a historical juncture in Laos.
In the future, the China-Laos railway will also connect Thailand and Singapore. Ordinary tourists can take trains to travel all over Southeast Asia. This is no longer a dream. The world has also seen that China's goal is not only to benefit itself, but also to benefit the world.
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