'Helpful to our lives'

On the other side of the border, Thepmoukda Phetsalath, a 27-year-old Laotian, is a translator at the Laos-China Electricity Investment Co in Vientiane. She graduated from Tongji University in Shanghai in 2019.

"The China-Laos Railway will offer Laotians a lot of opportunities and is very helpful to our lives," Thepmoukda said.

"It only takes three hours from Vientiane to Boten, the first stop through which the China-Laos Railway enters my country, cutting the travel time by half," she added.

For Thepmoukda's relatives, who had previously never seen a train, the railway "is a life-changing experience", she said.

On July 1, a track change station was opened in Vientiane, creating a link between the China-Laos Railway and the Laos-Thailand Railway, according to the Vientiane Times.

Chanthone Sithixay, chairman of Vientiane Logistics Park Co, called the rail link "a new milestone" in freight transit and transportation between the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China, the world's second-largest economy.

The link "will streamline the transportation system and save time and money", he said. "This offers huge advantages to businesses in Laos, China and Thailand as well as other business operators across the region."

As part of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, the China-Laos Railway also connects to the China-Europe Railway Express, linking ASEAN nations to European markets through a cost-effective transportation system.

Yuan Minghao, general manager of China-Laos Railway Co, said that as the China-Laos Railway heads north, it connects to rail networks that reach major Chinese cities including Chengdu, Sichuan province; Chongqing municipality; Wuhan, Hubei province; and Xi'an, Shaanxi province, as well as many logistics distribution centers in China and along the route of the China-Europe rail line.

Heading south, the railway links the transportation networks that reach several major ports, including Thailand's Laem Chabang Port and Singapore.

"Over time, (the railway and connected networks) will become a new land and sea transport link and connectivity route," Yuan said.

Panya Paputsaro, president of Thailand-based Kaocharoen Train Transport Co, said he was able to cut transportation costs by up to 40 percent when shipping containers by rail from Thailand to Europe, compared with the cost to transport by sea.

Meanwhile, something more than the railway is turning Mohan into a bustling town.

On August 31, 2015, as witnessed by President Xi and then Laotian president Choummaly Sayasone, the agreement for the Mohan-Boten Economic Cooperation Zone was signed on behalf of the two countries.