Beijing to Bangkok train just a few links from reality

BANGKOK – A Bangkok to Beijing train journey became one clickity-clack link closer with the completion by Thailand and Laos of a Mekong River railway bridge and tracks last month, enabling cross-border rail transport with Laos for the first time and only a few kilometers remaining as the last trackless gap to reach China.

With the Thai-Lao railway’s new opening, a 12-hour-long train trip now runs from Bangkok’s main Krung Thep Aphiwat Station to Khamsavath Station in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

Vientiane’s small Khamsavath Station, about six miles (9.6 kilometers) outside of the capital, is the final stop for the new Thai-Lao railway’s carriages.

To reach China, passengers and cargo arriving by train from Bangkok still need to cross Vientiane’s streets via taxis, vans and other vehicles to traverse a few dozen miles from Khamsavath Station to Vientiane Railway Station, until that last rail link is constructed.

Some officials indicated those final tracks could be laid by 2028.

The much larger Vientiane Railway Station, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) northeast of the Lao capital, is a glistening, cavernous, peak-roofed Chinese-built facility offering high-speed Chinese trains linking Vientiane and southern China.

Meanwhile, the new Bangkok-Vientiane route is expected to increase trade between the two Southeast Asia nations and spur international tourism into Laos, which is increasingly opening its one-party Communist country to foreign visitors.

The cheapest one-way tickets from Bangkok to Vientiane are 152 third-class seats, each available for US$7.80 and cooled by ceiling-mounted electric fans. Sixty-four airconditioned second-class seats are $16 each.

Thirty second-class seats can be converted into an