Yunnan's rail, roads, pipelines reach out to Vietnam, Laos and Burma

SOUTHWEST China's Yunnan province, is expected to open a series of rail lines of China's Pan-Asian Railway between the provincial capital of Kunming and points along the Chinese borders with Vietnam, Laos and Burma, an area now called the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS).

The east route railway route, still under construction, connects Kunming to Hekou on the border of northern Vietnam and is expected to open next year. The middle route from Yuxi to Mohan near the Laotian border is expected to come into operation later next year while the west route to Dali to Baoshan, closer to the northern Burmese border will be open in 2014, though the final leg to Ruili on the Burmese border is not expected to be open until 2018.

Sixteen passenger and cargo routes are now accessible between Kunming to Vietnam and Laos. Thus far, Yunnan has built comprehensive transportation network connecting with highways, railways, aviation and waterways in GMS countries from east, middle and west directions, reports Xinhua.

In addition, international shipping line from Lancang to Mekong has posted an increase in ship's tonnage to 200-300 tonnes from the 60 tonnes before during trials. Cargo volume during the trial period amounted to 500 compared to the 500,000 tonnes today.

At present, the air transport system also has formed, airline routes from the cities like Kunming, Jinghong to the main cities Bangkok, Hanoi, Phnom Penh have launched. Yunnan's high-speed IT network linking to countries in GMS has finished construction, and opened Sino-Laotian telecommunication service. China telecom Kunming Regional international bureau has officially opened, and Sino-Burma oil and gas pipeline construction has started from 2010.