Train travel between Bangkok and Beijing is inching closer as Thailand prepares to expand its rail network.
Thailand will run a trial service between Bangkok and Laos' capital of Vientiane between July 13 and 14, according to the State Railway of Thailand (SRT). When up and running, the new link will improve transport between the two countries and China.
The launch of the Thailand-Laos connection will mean it is possible to travel by train from Bangkok to Beijing via stops in Vientiane and the southern Chinese city of Kunming, where there is a separate semi-high-speed service to the Chinese capital.
The roughly 3,218-kilometre journey will take almost a full day. That compares with nearly five hours for a non-stop flight.
There is already a high-speed train operating between China and Laos that offers a route for Thai goods to be transported via rail to Kunming, according to a Nikkei report. That has helped reduce delivery times to China to 15 hours from the two days it takes for trucks to carry freight along the mountainous route, it said.
