What happens in the 3 hrs when crossing the China-Laos borde

The Friendship Tunnel connecting

the borders of China and Laos

(from China Railway Kunming Group)

The border-crossing part normally takes three hours. However, for passengers and train workers, what to do next differ.

Passengers traveling from China to Laos must bring all their luggage with them and get off the train to complete customs inspection and quarantine procedure when the train arrives at Mohan Station, the railway port on China's side.

After returning to the train to continue their journey, passengers will find the train soon stops again at Boten Station, the Lao railway port.

At Boten, a border check is required, after which passengers can go on traveling to several other stations in Laos on the same train bound for Vientiane.

"The three-hour procedure is a bit long for a rail trip," He Jianbo, another conductor explained, "We've been conveying such opinions from our passengers. The good news is the time is likely to be shortened."

One may wonder what Yang and his fellow train attendants will do around the three-hour waiting time. Here's his introduction:

On a typical China-Laos Railway train, Carriages 1 to 4 are reserved for domestic passengers, and carriages 5 to 8 are for cross-border passengers.

When the train is approaching the border check, train attendants will inform passengers border tips via train broadcasting.

Yang gives an example that the attendants will help Chinese passengers fill in the Laos immigration card one-on-one, because the immigration card is only in Laos and English.

There’re rare situations that still occasionally happen. Some passengers get on board without their visa.

Train attendants usually remind them to get off at prior stations and apply for a landing visa at the highway port.

"Thanks to the three-hour waiting time, he or she is still able to catch the same train after passing through the border," Yang said.

Yang Bin (left) with his fellow China-Laos Railway conductors (Photo by Lin Yuxuan)

After all passengers get off the train, attendants should quickly clean up the carriages.

The border inspection and quarantine rules are strict. All garbage and sewage are not allowed to cross the border.

When the passengers return, everything is supposed to have been "reset", Yang said.

While the total cleaning is going on, any door of all carriages that could be opened should be opened during the three hours.

This is because customs and border police are worried that some passengers will bring prohibited items into the country.

"The three-hour waiting time is long. But maybe it is because of the promising time that there has never been a case of missing train or border security incidents."

Yang noticed that people in South East Asia do have different habits from those of Chinese people.

"Some passengers ask for ice water, but currently the train can only provide boiled water," he said, "This is a tricky problem. "

Yang will recommend these passengers to the bottled water. The dining car sells bottled water at different price, from 2 yuan, 4 yuan to 6 yuan.

"We try very hard to improve our service." Yang said.

Ms. Deng Yu is showing a scarf specially designed for the China-Laos Railway train attendants

(Photo by Lin Yuxuan)

"Cross-border railway is not as easy as it seems to be," said Deng Yu, Yang's colleague at China Railway Kunming Group.

"In South East Asia, for example, many cross-border railways have to switch between meter-gauge and standard-gauge."

As Deng Yu indicated, poor communication and lack of mutual trust between the countries may result in more costs as well as fewer shipments of goods.

"Some countries started (their railway project) early, but catch up slowly," an insider said, "The China-Laos Railway is booming just in time."

The China-Laos Railway, a landmark project of China's Belt and Road cooperation, first began operations in December 2021. The 1,035-km railway connects China's Kunming with Vientiane in Laos.

The railway has transported more than 16.4 million passengers and over 21 million tons of cargo as of June 3 this year.

Written by Lin Yuxuan