Rail transport in Laos

Laos has 422 km (262 mi) of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge railways, primarily consisting of the Boten–Vientiane railway, which opened in December 2021. It also has a 12 km (7 mi) metre gauge railway with two stations in Vientiane, Khamsavath and Thanaleng, both of which are connected to Thailand's railway system. There are a total of 22 stations in Laos - 20 on the Boten–Vientiane railway, and 2 linking to the State Railway of Thailand.

History

Due to the mountainous geography of Laos, the country had no substantial railway infrastructure, thus traditionally rail transport has not played a significant part in Laos's transport sector.

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, avoiding the Khone falls which prevented navigation. The railway was abandoned in the 1940s and fell into ruin, although some remnants of the infrastructure are 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 station, Quảng Bình province, Vietnam through the Mụ Giạ Pass. However, the scheme was eventually scrapped in the 1930s.

It was only after the 2009 opening of the railway link from Vientiane to Thailand, as well as the 2021 opening of the Boten–Vientiane railway, connecting Vientiane to major cities in northern Laos and across the Chinese border to Kunming, that rail transport came into prominence in Laos.