Transport in Laos

This article concerns systems of transportation in Laos. Laos is a country in Asia, which possesses a number of modern transportation systems, including several highways and a number of airports. As a landlocked country, Laos possesses no ports or harbours on the sea, and the difficulty of navigation on the Mekong means that this is also not a significant transport route.

Railways

There are currently no major railways in Laos, though a short portage railway once existed on the Mekong river.

In January 2007 work began on a 3.5 km extension of the metre-gauge State Railway of Thailand network across the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge to a passenger and freight terminal inside Laos. Test trains began running on July 4 2008. [cite news | title=Testing takes train into Laos | url=http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2008/07/8622/testing_takes_train_into_laos.html | work =Railway Gazette International | date = 2008-07-07 ] Formal inauguration is planned for August 2008. Surveys are underway to continue to the line a further 12 km to Vientiane.cite news | title=Laos link launched | url =http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2007/03/7118/laos_link_launched.html | work=Railway Gazette International | date = 2007-03-01 ]

Laos does not have any links to other neighbouring countries by rail, although a link to Vietnam's Ha Tinh Province has been proposed. All neighbouring countries share the same 1000 mm gauge, including lines in China as far as Yunan.

Highways

In Laos, there are 21,716km of highway, of which 9,673.5km are paved, leaving 12,042.5km unpaved. Driving in Laos is on the right.

Laos has constructed a new highway connecting Savannakhet to the Vietnamese border at Lao Bao, with funding coming from the Japanese government [http://www.langara.bc.ca/pacrim/laos.html] . This has greatly facilitated travelling across Laos. This highway can now be traversed in a few hours, while in 2002 the trip took over 9 hours along a very bumpy (and scenic) route.

There are 3 land connection across the Mekong from Laos to Thailand using the existing First and Second Friendship Bridge and Pakxe bridge. Vientiane is linked to Udon Thani using the First Friendship Bridge.

Laos opened a highway connection to Kunming that was open in April 2008.The Fourth Friendship Bridge is under planning to be completed by 2011 linking Kunming to Bokeo, Laos and Chiang Rai. It will reduce the travel time to 5 hours.

Water transport

About 4,587 km of navigable water routes exist in Laos, primarily the Mekong and its tributaries. There is an additional 2,897km, which is sectionally navigable by craft drawing less than 0.5 m.

In terms of sea travel, Laos has a merchant marine consisting of 1 cargo ship of GRT|2,370|first=yes.

Pipelines

Laos has 136km of pipeline for transport of petroleum products.

Airports

Laos possesses 52 airports, of which 9 have paved runways, and 43 do not. Of the airports with paved runways, only Wattay International Airport has runway length over 2,438m. Of the remainder, four have runways 1,524 to 2,437 m length, and a further four of lengths between 914 and 1,523 m. Of the airports without paved runways, 1 has runways of length above 1,524m, 17 have runway lengths between 914 and 1,523 m, leaving 25 with length below 914m.

ee also

*Laos
*Lao Airlines
*Vientiane

External links

* [http://railwaynews.blogspot.com/search/label/Laos News site regarding rail in Laos]
* [http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/laos.pdf UN Map of Laos]

References