On June 18, workers from China Railway No.2 Engineering Group Co., Ltd. successfully welded the first pair of long tracks over a bridge along the China-Laos Railway, marking the beginning of the welding of the seamless rails and a big step forward in accelerating the construction of the railway.

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The welding site. 

The seamless rail, also known as continuous welded rail (CWR) which eliminates rail joints, can improve the duration of steel rails, reduce the maintenance costs of locomotives and tracks, improve the stability and speed of trains, and enhance travel comfort.

The China-Laos Railway is a joint project that represents the synergy between the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and the strategy of Laos to transform itself from a landlocked to a land-linked country. It will link Boten, a port town on the China-Laos border, with Lao capital Vientiane. With a length of 422.4 kilometers and a designed speed of 160 kilometers per hour, the electric passenger and cargo railway is scheduled to be completed in July 2021.(By Deng Lianchuan and Zang Heng)