Golden rail corridor in Southeast Asia starts to take shape as China

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By Li Xuanmin, Zhang Weilan (Global Times) 11:29, February 07, 2025

"We're having high expectations for the role of this rail link, once completed, it will help transport fruits from Southeast Asia to China, including durians, mangosteen, longan, and coconut. It is set to open a direct logistical link between China and Thailand as well as other Southeast Asian countries - with higher operational efficiency and lower cost," Deng Haoji, chief operating officer of Chongqing Hongjiu Fruit, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Higher operational efficiency

The China-Thailand HSR is Thailand's first standard-gauge HSR with a designed passenger speed of 250 kilometers per hour, and also the first overseas high-speed rail project to adopt Chinese railway standards.

A spokesperson for the China State Construction Engineering (Thailand) Co, told the Global Times that the construction of China-Thailand HSR is of strategic importance in establishing the Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) network, which starts from Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, and extends to Singapore via Laos and Thailand.

The company has undertaken the construction of the key sections of the China-Thailand HSR.

The blueprint for TAR's central route has begun to take shape with the implementation of several landmark BRI projects in the past decade, bringing massive benefits to the resource-rich ASEAN region.

The China-Laos Railway, which connects Kunming with Vientiane, was put into operation in December 2021. As of January 9 this year, the rail link has transported a total of 50.7 million tons of cargo and 45 million passengers, data released by China Railway Group showed, making it one of the "golden corridors" in deepening cooperation between China and ASEAN countries.

The phase-1 of China-Thailand HSR, a 253-kilometer-long rail line, was approved by the Thai government in July 2017.

As of now, approximately 35.74 percent of the phase-1 has been completed, with full completion and railway operation expected by 2028. Once the first phase becomes operational, it will reduce the travel time between Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima from more than 4 hours to just one hour, the China State Construction Engineering said.

The accelerated construction of the rail link between China and Thailand will serve an exemplified role, leading to the implementation of more BRI infrastructure projects that "could elevate regional connectivity in the Southeast Asia region to a new height" in the coming years, Xu Liping, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times in a recent interview.

As economic cooperation further expands under the framework of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the TAR network is set to complement the overstretching sea-shipping and air cargo connectivity routes between China and Southeast Asia, analysts pointed out.

Last year, ASEAN countries remained China's largest trading partner. Bilateral trade between China and ASEAN jumped 9 percent year-on-year to reach 6.99 trillion yuan ($959 billion) in 2024, which accounted for 15.9 percent of China's total foreign trade, customs data showed.

Extensive BRI cooperation