The overhead contact system (OCS) for power supply of the China-Laos railway was successfully commissioned after a test of its final parts on Sunday morning.

In the test, the electricity transmission scope covered the railway's 20 stations in Laos and over 400 kilometers of railway lines. The trial operation ran smoothly and successfully with all technical data such as on insulation and voltage transformers meeting the requirements of project design and engineering standards.

The electrical engineering work on the railway started in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and was carried out by China Railway Wuhan Electrification Engineering Group Co., Ltd (WEEG) and designed by China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co., Ltd.

In the construction process, the Chinese engineers and workers overcame extra challenges in logistics and COVID-19 prevention to achieve the goal of "zero infection, no delay."

The China-Laos Railway is a docking project between the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Laos' strategy to convert itself from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub.

With the last steel beam laid, the railway stretching from southwest China's Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, to Vientiane of Laos, was completed on October 12. The streamlined bullet train, or electric multiple unit (EMU) train, for the China-Laos railway arrived at the newly-built China-Laos Railway Vientiane Station on Saturday.

The electrified passenger and cargo railway is built with the full application of Chinese management and technical standards. The construction of the project started in December 2016 and the whole railway is scheduled to be completed and open to traffic in December 2021. 

Read more:

First China-Laos express train arrives in Vientiane

Workers complete major tunnel along China-Laos railway 

(With input from Xinhua)