A little over 23 kilometres separate the small provincial town of Nong Khai and Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The distance may seem inconsequential, but this border area is critical to the success of the China-Singapore high-speed railway, part of Beijing's One Belt One Road logistic plan to link China with Asean. Yet the ambitious plan, unveiled in 2010, has been sputtering for nearly a decade, especially in Thailand.
That is about to change. With only 5% of the proposed 609km high-speed Bangkok-Nong Khai route complete, the Thai government recently put the project on high priority and hopes to open the 432-billion-baht high-speed train service by 2028.
