A dynamic testing train departs from China's Kunming Railway Station and heads to Mohan Station on the China-Laos Railway, signaling the completion of a comprehensive test of the Chinese section of the cross-border railway.

When the line is open to traffic, a journey from Kunming, China, to Vientiane, Laos, will take less than a day. With convenient transportation, cultural exchanges between the two countries are expected to become more frequent.

A connectivity center jointly established by Chinese and Laos universities aims to cultivate high-quality technical talent for the localization of the China-Laos Railway.

The center constructed an internationalized Chinese model for railway engineering multilateral platform for higher education and scientific and technological cooperation, non-governmental humanities exchanges, and external publicity.

"The China-Laos railway is the first railway in Laos," said a Laotian student in his junior year at the Shanghai Institute of Technology. Many Laotian students visit China to gain railway knowledge as a railway personnel education cooperation project between the two countries advances.

In 2017, the Shanghai Institute of Technology signed a cooperation framework agreement with Souphanouvong University in Laos. In 2018 and 2019, the Souphanouvong University sent two batches of undergraduate and master's students to study in Shanghai.

At the end of 2020, the first batch of Lao students majoring in railway engineering who studied in Shanghai returned home and were assigned to the China-Laos railway construction site for graduation practice.

A donation ceremony was held at the China-Laos Friendship Nongbing Village Primary School in Vientiane, Laos.

During the construction of the China-Laos railway, China also provided financial aid to primary schools in Laos.

In October, the China-Laos Railway Project Department handed over a newly built rattan ball field to Nongbing Village Primary School and donated complete sets of sports facilities such as table tennis tables, and coronavirus epidemic prevention materials.

The China-Laos Friendship Nongbing Village Primary School was built by the Chinese government in 2012 as a demonstration project of friendship between the two countries.

During construction, the China-Laos Railway Project Department and the participating units actively integrated themselves into the local community, donating funds for education, public welfare and charity, cultural exchanges, and fighting the epidemic. In order to promote local economic development and increase employment, the project department has increased the employment of Lao employees.

According to data released by the China Railway Group, more than 110 training courses have been held and more than 3,000 local employees have been trained, leading to improvements in the technical levels of local employees in Laos.

To solve the problem of electricity supply for people in villages along the construction route, the department dismantled old bridges and built 12 permanent new ones on the fast-flowing river, filled roadbeds, and leveled more than 60,000 square meters of land along the construction route.