VIENTIANE - The first train of the China-Laos Railway bound for China left on Friday afternoon after the railway was put into operation.

The 1,035-km electrified passenger and cargo railway, connecting Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan Province with the Lao capital Vientiane, fully adopts Chinese technical standards and consists of two sections.

Construction of the section in Laos from the border town of Boten to Vientiane started in December 2016, and construction of the Chinese section of the railway linking the city of Yuxi and the border town of Mohan started in December 2015.