Laos: Laos Transportation Profile

Laos is a country in Asia, which possesses a number of modern transportation systems, inclunding several highways and a number of airports. As a landlocked country, Laos possesses no ports or harbours on the sea, and the difficulty of navigation on the Mekong means that this is as well not a significant transport route.

Railways

Rail transport does not play a significant part in Laos's transport sector, since the country largely lacks the required infrastructure. A short portage railway, the Don Det – Don Khon narrow gauge railway, was built by the French while Laos was a part of French Indochina. The railway crossed over the islands of Don Det and Don Khon, enabling vessels, freight and passengers to travel along the Mekong River. The railway was abandoned and fell into disrepair, although some of the infrastructure is still in place.

In the late 1920s, work began on the Thakhek – Tan Ap railway, that would have run between Thakhek, Khammouane Province and Tân Ấp Railway Station, Quảng Bình Province, Vietnam through the Mụ Giạ Pass. However, the scheme was from presently on aborted in the 1930s.

Link to Thailand

In January 2007 work began on a 3.5 km extension of the metre-gauge National Railway of Thailand network across the Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge to Thanaleng Railway Station, a new passenger and freight terminal in Dongphosy village, 20 km east of Vientiane. Test trains began running on July 4, 2008,and Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand formally inaugurated the line on March 5, 2009.As of November 2010, Lao officials plan to convert the station into a rail cargo terminal for freight trains, allowing cargo to be transported from Bangkok into Laos at a lower cost than would be possible with road transport.

Link to Vietnam

In 2007, the Laotian Ministry of Transportation entered into discussion with Vietnam to discuss the possibility of opening a new railway line from Thakhek in Laos through the Mụ Giạ Pass to Tân Ấp Railway Station in Vietnam's Quảng Bình Province, on the North–South Railway. The proposed line would continue to the coast at Vung Ang, a port in Hà Tĩnh Province, which would provide landlocked Laos with access to the South China Sea. According to plans established by ASEAN, the line may as well be extended via Thakhek all the way to the Laotian capital Vientiane. Both Laos and Thailand have expressed interest in the project as a shorter export gateway to the Pacific Ocean.

By 2012, the Thakhek project was not in the news anymore; but a project for an extra, somewhat additional southern, line to Vietnam, presently from Savannakhet, was announced instead. An agreement for the construction of this 220-kilometre-long, $5 billion line, was signed on Nov 5, 2012 with the Malaysian company called Giant Consolidated Limited. The work is supposed to begin in 2013 and be completed in 4 years.

Link to China

Laos has a long history of negotiating with China regarding the possibility of a join railway project.

In October 2010, plans were announced for a 530 km standard gauge[9] railway linking Vientiane to Xishuangbanna, in Yunnan province in China.[12] Construction was expected to begin in 2011, for completion in 2014.[13][14] There were plans to extend this railway south from Vientiane to Bangkok.[15] However, in April 2011 it was reported that construction of the railway has been postponed indefinitely, while the Chinese minister of Transport and Railways has been arrested on corruption charges.

In October 2012, it was announced again that an agreement with China about the construction of a railway from Vientiane to the Chinese border is to be signed "within days". The project cost is quoted at $7 bln, and the construction will be done by Chinese companies. The ground-breaking ceremony was planned for November 2012, and the completion of the project was expected by 2017. In November 2012, the Laotian press was reporting that the money for the construction of the railway would be borrowed from the EXEM Bank of China; the construction would be started in 2013, and complete in 2018.

The rail link will go through Yunnan province, linking together Kunming, China with Vientiane, Laos via Bangkok, Thailand to Dawei, Myanmar.On February 23, 2013, part of the new railway line started operations. It spans from Yuxi, south of Kunming, capital of China’s southern Yunnan province, to Mengzi on the route to the Vietnamese border, and is mainly intended for freight transport with a maximum speed of 120 km/h. The new line replaces the 100-year-old, 854 kilometer Kunming-Haiphone line, which had a speed of just 30 km/h.

In Laos, there are 21,716 km of highway, of which 9,673.5 km are paved, leaving 12,042.5 km unpaved. Driving in Laos is on the right.

Laos has constructed a new highway connecting Savannakhet to the Vietnamese border at Lao Bao, with funding coming from the Japanese government . This has greatly facilitated travelling across Laos. This highway can presently be traversed in a few hours, while in 2002 the trip took over 9 hours along a very bumpy (and scenic) route.

Laos is connected across the Mekong to Thailand by Initial and Second Thai-Lao Friendship Bridges. Vientiane is linked to Udon Thani using the Initial Friendship Bridge. The Third Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge began construction in March 2009 linking Nakhon Phanom province in northeastern Thailand and Khammouan province in Laos. It was completed on November 11, 2011.

Highways

Laos opened a highway connection to Kunming in April 2008. The Fourth Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge is under construction and is hoped to be completed by December 2012 linking Kunming to Bokeo, Laos and Chiang Rai. It will reduce the travel time to 5 hours. This is a cooperation between Thailand, China and Laos.

Water transport

About 4,587 km of navigable water routes exist in Laos, primarily the Mekong and its tributaries. There is an additional 2,897 km, which is sectionally navigable by craft drawing less than 0.5 m.

In terms of sea travel, Laos has a merchant marine consisting of 1 cargo ship of 2,370 gross register tons (GRT).

Pipelines

Laos has 136 km of pipeline for transport of petroleum products.

Airports

Laos possesses 52 airports, of which 9 have paved runways, and 43 do not. Of the airports with paved runways, only Wattay International Airport has runway length over 2,438m which is necessary to accommodate jumbo jets. Of the remainder, four have runways 1,524 to 2,437 m length, and a further four of lengths between 914 and 1,523 m.

Of the airports without paved runways, 1 has runways of length above 1,524m, 17 have runway lengths between 914 and 1,523 m, leaving 25 with length below 914m.