China-Laos Railway adds extra EMU train to serve growing number of passengers

VIENTIANE -- The Laos-China Railway Co., Ltd. (LCRC) has procured another electric multiple unit (EMU) train, which will arrive in the Lao capital Vientiane on Thursday, aiming to accommodate the growing number of passengers.

Anongdeth Phetkaysone, deputy director of the LCRC, said that the EMU train has been purchased to support passenger transportation both domestically and internationally, in order to support the increase in passengers and prepare for Laos' chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Visit Laos Year 2024, the local Pasaxon newspaper reported on Thursday.

LCRC is a joint venture based in Vientiane responsible for the operation of the railway's Lao section.

Since its opening in December 2021, the China-Laos Railway has carried 3,197,600 passengers, averaging 4,889 passengers a day and with a record high of 10,197 passengers in one day. In 2023, it carried 1,759,900 passengers in a period of just over eight months.

In terms of freight transport, a total of 5,381,900 tons of goods was exported, averaging 8,229 tons a day, with a maximum of 15,250 tons shipped in one day.

The main categories of goods carried on the railway were fruit, potato flour, barley, rubber, beer, iron ore, concentrated iron ore, and chemical fertilizer, said Anongdeth.

So far this year, the volume of goods exported reached 3,101,400 tons, an increase of 138 percent compared to the same period last year, with an average of 11,928 tons shipped each day, and a maximum shipment of 15,250 tons in one day.