Southeast Asia's Belt and Road rail hopes beset by delays

Only small fraction of Thailand's segment completed after 4 years

A rail line from Kunming, China, to Vientiane, Laos, is slated to open on Dec. 2. But other parts of the pan-Asia railway face setbacks. (Photo by Vientiane Times)

MARIMI KISHIMOTO, Nikkei staff writer

November 11, 2021 02:41 JST

BANGKOK -- Much fanfare greeted a Chinese plan to connect Southeast Asia through more than 3,000 km of high-speed rail when it arrived in Thailand in 2017. But on the ground near one of its many pieces, the project has so little visibility that a train station attendant struggled to find it.