A freight train bound for Thailand via Laos departed south China's Kunming City, marking the launch of the first round-trip railway connecting the three countries on February 7.

The 1,830-kilometer China-Laos-Thailand route is the central section of the Trans-Asian railway. An extension of the China-Laos railway which opened in December 2021, the route runs from Kunming to the Laotian capital of Vientiane and continues to the Thai capital of Bangkok. The new route shortens the previous travel time by a day and reduces the cost by more than 20 percent.