China News Service, Xishuangbanna, September 13 (Miao Chao, Zhang Weiming, Yao Wei) The China-Laos Railway Friendship Tunnel, which was built by the China Railway Second Bureau, was opened on the 13th. The tunnel is located on the border between China and Laos and is a cross-border tunnel connecting the two countries.

The opening of the Friendship Tunnel marks another solid step in the construction of the China-Laos railway.

  The Friendship Tunnel is the only cross-border tunnel of the China-Laos Railway, with a total length of 9.59 kilometers, including 7.17 kilometers in China and 2.42 kilometers in Laos. In order to reflect the traditional friendship between China and Laos, the tunnel is named Friendship Tunnel.

  Pan Fuping, 50, is the deputy manager of the Yumo Railway Project Department of the China Railway Second Bureau. He is responsible for the construction organization of the China section of the Friendship Tunnel. His apprentice Bai Xiaoke is responsible for the production organization of the Laos section of the Friendship Tunnel.

The distance between the master and the apprentice is less than 10 kilometers artificially, but due to the tight schedule and heavy tasks, it is difficult for the two to meet each other across the border.

  "I have an agreement with Bai Xiaoke. When the tunnel runs through, we will have a hug in the tunnel and take a group shot. After all, we have worked together in a tunnel for more than 1,500 days and nights." Pan Fuping said, today the tunnel is realized. Through, but affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, they temporarily cancelled the agreement, "We are still excited."

  "I want to take a train to China to see the Great Wall." This is the dream of a Lao worker Tongju of the Laos section of the Friendship Tunnel. He said that he had only seen trains on TV and the Internet since he was a child, and he has never actually taken it. Fortunately to participate in the construction of the China-Laos railway, he was extremely happy.

  "The completion of the Friendship Tunnel marks another solid step in the construction of the China-Laos railway." Liu Juncheng, deputy commander of the Yunnan South Railway Construction Headquarters of China Railway Kunming Bureau Group, said that currently 93 tunnels are under construction in the China section of the China-Laos Railway. 80 have been penetrated, and the remaining 13 have been completed. The tunnel project has completed 97.5% of the design volume, the roadbed and bridge have been basically completed, and the track laying, station building and other projects are progressing as planned.

  The China-Laos Railway starts from Kunming, China in the north, and arrives at Vientiane, the capital of Laos, in the south. It is the first international railway to be invested and constructed by China, adopting Chinese technical standards and using Chinese equipment after the "Belt and Road" initiative was proposed.

Construction of the railway started in December 2016 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

After completion, it is expected that the evening will arrive from Kunming, China to Vientiane, Laos.

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