The first railway in Laos was a short (6.5km) narrow gauge railway opened in 1893 across the Mekong River islands of Don Det and Don Khong, forming a portage route for river traffic. The line closed to rail traffic in the 1940s, although much of the route can still be traced and the bridge between the two islands now carries a road.
This was the only railway built in Laos until 2008, when a new 3.5km, metre gauge line in was completed from from a station at Tha na Lang to the Friendship Bridge over the Mekong river, which at that point forms the border with Thailand. The railway crosses the bridge to connect with the State Railway of Thailand (SRT); SRT operates the line on behalf of the Lao Railway Authority.
The Friendship Bridge was opened for road traffic in 1994 and already incorporated provision for a railway, but construction of the actual railway line was delayed for over a decade. Little progress appears to have been made with a proposed 9km extension of the existing line to the outskirts of Vientiane, and proposals for other railways connecting with Vietnam and China are similarly languishing.
© 2005-2011
Glyn Williams
Flag image from CIA World Factbook
