Aerial photo taken on March 15, 2020 shows workers preparing to plant the first engineering pole at the construction site of the China-Laos railway project in Vientiane, Laos. With the first engineering pole for overhead contact system being successfully established by China Railway Wuhan Electrification Engineering Group Co., Ltd. (WEEG), the M&E (mechanical and electrical) engineering of China-Laos railway has officially entered the construction phase on Sunday. The China-Laos Railway is a strategic docking project between the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Laos' strategy to convert from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub. The 414.332-km railway, with 198-km tunnels and 62-km bridges, will run from Boten border gate in northern Laos, bordering China, to Vientiane with an operating speed of 160 km per hour. (Photo by Alan Liu/Xinhua)
