
KUNMING, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- More than
400,000 tonnes of freight have traveled across the border on the meter-gauge
railway connecting China and Vietnam so far this year, latest figures show.
Of that amount, more than 250,000 tonnes
were exported from China, a year-on-year increase of 13.26 percent, according
to China Railway Kunming Group Co., Ltd.
Launched in 1910, the China-Vietnam
meter-gauge railway is an important international passage between China and
Southeast Asia. After a series of discussions, a regular freight train was
launched in December 2017 between southwest China's Kaiyuan County and
Vietnam's coastal city of Haiphong, to meet growing freight demand.
A variety of goods, such as chemical
fertilizer, coke, fodder and seamless steel tube, have been transported on the
615-km-long railway route since its opening.
The rail route, with a 1,000-mm-wide
track, was built by France during 1904-1910 in the mountainous region. It is
currently the only major rail line in China using a 1,000-mm-wide track. The
global standard for rail track width is 1,435 mm.