The first group of trainees for China-Laos railway's operation are studying hard in the intensive Chinese language and professional railway theory training in Lao capital Vientiane, with hopes for a bright future of their career and life. Twenty-three-year-old Somphone Inleuangsy from northern Laos' hilly Luang Namtha province told Xinhua on Wednesday that she wanted to be the first female train driver in the country's first modernized railway. A total of 233 trainees are receiving the training at Confucius Institute of National University of Laos (NUOL). They are learning to be train drivers, engine mechanics, train operators, and supervisors of railway maintenance. All of the trainees were selected by the Laos-China Railway Co., Ltd (LCRC), a joint venture based in Vientiane. The China-Laos Railway is a strategic docking project between the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Laos' strategy to convert from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub. The 422-km railway, with 198-km tunnels and 62-km bridges, will run from Boten border gate in northern Laos, bordering China, to Lao capital Vientiane with an operating speed of 160 km per hour. The electrified passenger and cargo railway is built with the full application of Chinese management and technical standards, with its construction starting in December 2016 and scheduled to be completed and operational in December 2021.
