In Laos, an EMU is shorthand for ‘electrical multiple unit’: the kind of high-speed passenger train now running 415 kilometres north from the capital, Vientiane, to the border city of Boten. When borders reopen, it will run a farther 600 kilometres to Kunming—where it can plug into China’s extensive rail network.

Built at a considerable expense—US$6 billion (more than a quarter of Laos’ GDP)—the Laos-China Railway, the country’s first major railway line, began commercial operations in December 2021. It marks the first time that China’s standard gauge railway lines have extended beyond its own borders; the trains that pass from China into Vietnam and Mongolia both have to change track gauge.

• Tags: Issue 27, Laos, Nick J. Freeman