Laos - Visit Reports
20 February 2025
The main reason for coming to Laos, aside from ticking off the country was to have a spin on the newly built standard gauge line.
We flew up to Vientiane from Bangkok with Air Asia, having sorted an E-visa prior to leaving the UK ($50), Visa on arrival was also an option. Wattay airport is only 15 mins or so by road from central Vientiane and a taxi to the hotel was 150000 kip (about £6).
There are actually two stations serving Vientiane, neither of which are particularly near the town - one is near the Mekong River Friendship Bridge and has metre gauge service across from Thailand. The new station is a good way out of the centre nearer to Don Noun, and Google Maps quoted 45 mins travel time - this turned out to be correct , so allow plenty of time to get there.
We bought tickets in advance via the LCR app, the booking window is only 3 days ahead and trains do seem to sell out, so also bear this in mind if you have a specific date you need to travel on.
As with most Chinese stations, there is a Ticket and ID check to access the building, followed by a security check. Both were quick and efficient, and no sooner had we stepped onto the concourse, they started boarding. Be aware that they close the boarding gates 5 mins before departure for trains on Platform 1 and 7 mins beforehand for trains on Platforms 2 and 3. Our train, K12, was on platform 2 and actually departed at 0840 vice the advertised 0842 published time; it was also load 18 and a good walk up the front to view the loco as the subway stairs came up by coach 9.
The majority of trains on the Vientiane - Boten line are formed of various Chinese high speed karts, but there is one slower hauled train pair K11/K12, and this was our focus.
The electric loco fleet comprises of HXD3C Co-Cos, and these are divided into HXD3C and HXD3CA types. Based on photos and observations the following are known to have been delivered, finding a fleetlist seems to be very difficult:
I've seen photos of both sub-types on the passenger stock, so not sure whether or not they are common user, I did read that the CAs had HEP fitted, yet we had a standard C on our train.
All the electric hauled freights observed had pairs of locos on the front, and we passed one at Vang Vieng on the return journey which had a DF4B on the rear - too dark to get the number though. The freight traffic seems to be predominantly containers, either on flats or stowed inside bogie open wagons, and several stations had the opposite island platform occupied by rakes of them.
About 20 mins North of Vientiane, there is a p-way compound which had 5 DF4Bs, all of which were looking a bit faded & rough round the edges, 9701 was the head of the line.
At Phonhong there is a container terminal adjacent to the station, surprised to see DF4B 9444 at work in there - olive green livery with a China Rail in Circle logo on the front.
Diesel HXN3 7028 was noted on a container train at Vang Vieng, one of two such locos on the railway delivered in 2023.
We got off at Luang Prabang to visit the town there which is on the tourist trail. A shared minivan into town took 30 mins and cost 40000 kip per person. On the return we took a Songthaew pickup taxi which quoted 200000 kip, this was roughly in line with pricing on the Lao version of Uber.
6 March 2025
Report from a short trip to Laos…….
Wed 5th March: Headed to Laos by way of a sleeper on train #25 Bangkok KTA to Nong Khai, QSY 5219 up front. Aircon fierce, supplied blanket definitely required.
Thurs 6th March: Arrived at Nong Khai on time at 06.25.
We festered in the coffee shop on the platform, then just before train #133 arrived at 07:55 the immigration booths opened, so we got stamped out of Thailand then waited in the gated area as 5249 and the first couple of vans were removed. 4106 then backed onto the Vientiane coaches and once it had drawn forward we were allowed to board. A short, but very interesting journey, firstly crossing the ‘Friendship Bridge’ over the Mekong River that forms the Thailand / Laos border at this point, then passing the impressive Thanaleng ‘Dry Port’ / transshipment area. This forms the start of the standard gauge Laos - China Railway (LCR), but the standard gauge part is largely hidden from view.
The train terminates at the new and impressive Vientiane Khamsavath station. No problem taking photos here of our arrival, and also after the loco had run round. We opted for ‘Visa on arrival’ - 2 forms to fill in, hand over with passport, 1 x passport sized photo, and 40 dollars that must be pristine, and as xx found out, not ‘too old’. Thai Baht also accepted. Availed of a local SIM card, 3 days with 10GB of data was just a few quid equivalent, paid in Thai Baht. Next, changed some money at the desk into Loatian Kip - £20 at 27000ish to the £ so we were halfway to being millionaires.
Used the Loca app (thanks to Andy Ashton for the tip) to order a taxi which worked in much the same way as Uber or Grab, and takes all the pain out of the process. [snip]
Fri 7th March: Taxi to the new LCR station took about 35 mins so we were in good time for the 08:42 departure to Boten, the only hauled service on the new standard gauge line to China. The station arrangements and trip was as described in [the above] recent report, we even had the same loco, HXD3C 7019! From Vientiane, we were in coach 1, adjacent to the loco. I tried to head to the end of the platform for a photo of the loco, ignoring the shouts from behind, I got about midway along the loco then heard running footsteps, then hands on my shoulders to spin me round 90 degrees with much gibber and finger wagging …. fortunately being at the front allowed a quick leap off at a couple of the intermediate shacks with no issue at all taking photos.
We were in hard class, which isn’t that hard, but is 3 + 2 abreast, so very cramped, and was largely full all the way to Boten, with plenty getting off at the shacks to be immediately replaced with new punters. Other option is a 4-person couchette in day mode, substantially dearer though. The Northern section of the line is largely in a succession of tunnels, with fleeting glimpses of some spectacular Mountain scenery. Arrived about 25 late into Boten, so by the time we had exited the station, then re-entered, boarding for the return was about to start, 7019 ran round as expected. We were in coach 12 for the return, which was completely empty until Luang Prabang, when it wedged out completely, but then largely emptied again at Vang Vieng.
LCR tickets are only available around 3 days in advance, so pre booked through 12go.asia who sort it for you and email you the pieces. LCR ticket app apparently now also works. There are a few catering outlets at Vientiane LCR station and a couple at Boten, there is also a trolley on the train. Pot noodles are available as is hot water. I bought a tuna sandwich at Vientiane, which they promptly popped into the microwave …… luckily I noticed so told them to desist immediately! About 10 late into Vientiane…. Loca’d a taxi tout suite straight to the Belgian Bar for beers / supper.
Sat 8th March: Taxi to Vientiane Khamsavath, took around 25 mins, arrived 08:50 for the 09:35 departure of train #148 which was plenty of time for the immigration departure procedure, note you require a 10000 kip note to facilitate this.
Metre gauge Lao National Railways single cab Bo-Bo diesel L001 was parked at Thanaleng, and an unnumbered centre cab Bo-Bo-Bo diesel was on a low loader and looked to be about to be unloaded with an enormous crane ! Arrival at Nong Khai and Thai entry was painless on the platform.
One more thing - I set up Loca with my (Halifax) credit card. This worked fine initially, but was then blocked after a few transactions. Tried to ring them, but it seems ringing / texting UK numbers from Laos is barred. Not a massive issue as used cash for Loca instead, and card immediately unblocked once I could ring them from Thailand this morning, but something to be aware of.
9 March 2025
A report of "high speed" journeys following others on loco hauled K11/2.
Firstly re visas, some airport arrivals in our Group also had $ rejections of notes just showing signs of use, i.e. not torn or written on. Even a Vientiane restaurant thought twice about taking similar notes so if heading this way insist on pristine ones... No surprise I was the only 1 of our 10 Tourist Tour group who arrived in Vientiane overland...
My Tour ended in Luang Prabang 7 days later and I wanted to travel north to the Laos/China border station at Boten on D88, but even though that is a China bound service Ada would not sell me an internal ticket on it one week in advance as it was still over the 3 days limit for purchasing an internal journey purchase. It then took a few google translate attempts to establish seat availability on it 7 days ahead was down to less than 80 seats remaining with some classes already sold out.
xx reported using the Seat61 recommended agent 12go who will take your order and payment but on the basis of no guarantee they get what you want, if they don't then it's a refund. My week long organised Tourist trip was actually doing two hops on Laos trains on separate days, so their local Agent's were clearly used to buying tickets as soon as they became available for small groups so I asked for their help. They said tell us what you want when you meet the Group Leader in Laos and no payment until we get you the tickets... [as they can cancel for a full refund if I didn’t pay...] and on that subject the LCR App has quite a few posts about not receiving refunds against tickets bought through the App...
My only difficulty was getting them to understand I really did want to go north from Luang Prabang to Boten, to come back south via Luang Prabang to Vientiane two hours later... Another advantage in doing it through them was I could give them an option B in case no seats on Option A D88...
Our group travel hops were on individual paper tickets with a QR code on them, but for my own journeys, our guide was WhatsApp'd to say they had got my first choice, I gave him cash, he confirmed I had paid and they immediately sent me PDF tickets with a QR. They were bought at 07.29 on the day they went on sale, Thursday for Sunday. They were genuinely interested in why I was making such a request and the hassles we have with the 3 day rule and seemed keen to offer their services wider, so I will pass their details to Seat61 and he can take it from there if he wants a Laos alternative to 12go.
The LCR App posts a daily seat availability list for three days ahead and loco hauled K11/2 are by far the best trains for free spaces.
So on the Group/my travel in Laos:-
Tue 4th. We were booked on C92 09.45 Vientiane - Vang Vieng. We went through security as a group, totally painless with nobody's luggage examined in detail and nothing opened although the Tour Guide took away all flammable's such as aerosols & nail scissors etc beforehand. Our guide said a recent tour participant tried to smuggle through a vape, it was found, he was frogmarched away and fined $200.
Once through onto the platform a short time before departure the platform staff let me wander to get details of the trains only power car at the rear, FXD3-J7001 [so at the Vientiane end] but as stated before, would not let me go beyond it to get a ¾ front shot. Same on alighting. Train as per previous report left slightly early, arriving 4 early. Full barcode scan ticket check on leaving platform at Vang Vieng.
Passed two freights, haulage unknown, line of diesels on depot as described in previous post but on wrong side to id, and uid oldish looking double cab diesel [assume DF4B] parked behind a wall at Vang Vieng.
Thu 6th: Group booked on C92 10.45 Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang, again going through as a group was painless, as apart from luggage scanner almost pointless security wise as no need to empty pockets/liquids check. Annoyingly we got to the airport, sorry train station [they are huge buildings] in time to see loco hauled K12 arrive/depart north. We were held on the concourse well away from those boarding that train so my photo shows it was a HXD3C but not which one [it looks like a Traxx]. We were let onto the platform before C92 arrived, but with numerous staff keeping punters way back from the edge parallel with roof columns it was tricky to get a decent phot. Our EMU was FXD3-J7003, this time with the power car at the north end.
Some Germans were sitting in our row/seats so I pointed out in their lingo that their allocated seats were shown on their ticket so move please. They shifted cursing under their breath and were last seen heading back past us with their luggage ages later, it's not rocket science... On arrival at Luang Prabang our guide tried to brief us on the days plan on the platform, but when we were the only ones left we were ushered towards the exit, useful for overall scene phots but I didn't try to go to the ends as staff were posted at both so would not have got beyond the power car or dvt again. What looked like a modernised ChMe lookalike was lurking north of the platforms but no other diesels/electrics seen that day. No ticket grip on leaving station.
Sun 9th: my own journeys so a shared minibus via other Hotel pick-ups to station, 50,000 KIP. I triggered the Security hoop alarm and even then apart from waving the wand over me, I wasn't asked to empty my pockets. So I sat nearby and watched and some people were luggage searched, so the only proper checks were through the scanners. Bizarrely there is a duty-free shop on the concourse but its 168km and two stops from the border so with no segregation of China or Boten bound passengers not sure how that works...
The EMU was FXD3-J7002 with power car at the south end, with electric 7021 and a "ChMe" diesel parked up at Vang Vieng. DF4B 9444 was in the container terminal at Muang Xay. Passed no freights.
Boden was everybody off and out of the station via a full ticket check, those to China having to walk to the north end to go in again through immigration. North and southbounds to/from China are allowed nearly an hour at Boten for this palaver and in the ticket office it displayed available seats for the days trains and D88 I got off towards China was sold out. There were hundreds of seats left on southbound loco hauled K12 but as much as it would have been nice to get a sparky in the book, not for a nearly 4 hours later arrival into Vientiane. Internally Boten station is split ¼, ¾ by a glass partition, the ¼ being domestic so all seats were filled well over an hour before my departure time. No kiosks etc inside, but one small coffee hut right outside, but after the China train left we could wander through to the larger part of the station with kiosks etc.
There are some buildings close to Boten station, plus one large something under construction but nearby it's mainly a huge lorry parking area. Odd track layout as south of the station there are two lengthy single-track viaducts on different levels with one a level dead end headshunt of the yard. Electric 7020 plus 4 more uid, plus blue and white LCR diesel HXn37027, to me a cross breed of VR SR2 cabs and a ribbed sided RENFE 333...
Re the journey, both long Mekong bridges north of Luang Prabang have tunnel mouths very close to either side, and from going underneath one on a river cruise it has not the single span you might expect for such a major river, but has 5 single column supports as there are no large commercial ships with damming in China and although not losing any width, water depth at this time of year can be as low as 2 metres. Fyi from our river cruise we saw some elephants, [one with huge tusks] with their mahouts.
Return south: [Kunming -] Boten 13.27 - Vientiane D87 was a China Railways but identical design FXD3-J0208 [power car south end] but the whole unit was a hideous lime green with yellow and black stripes. Allocated backwards facing seat in coach 1 and managed to get beyond power car for ¾ front shot as no platform end minder...
Vang Vieng: Freight left northbound with 2 uid 70xx electrics plus DF4 9393 shunting at the South end, then 2 x uid 70xx on freight Vientiane North. On arrival back at Vientiane there was no r 28 bus to the Central Bus station for 4 hours... so a shared van based tuk-tuk direct to Hotels for the expected 100,000 KIP. With three of us already on it, 4 backpackers piled in and demanded we went first to the Airport. I said no chance, we were here first so get yourself another one; they got off...
General observations: Seats in 2nd class in what on board announcements describe as a "high speed EMU" are 3 x 2, some not lining up with windows and with high enough seat backs so non-window seats have an obstructed view. Half of each coach faces in each direction with just one set of double facing bays in the middle. I followed the seat back notice "Please do not sit or put heavy stuff on the [drop down] table, weight limit 25kg"... and didn't need the provided sick bag [although sanitary bag is printed on it, oops], despite 166 kmh max speed displayed internally [on a few occasions].
LCR are ridiculously over staffed, any entrance/ticket office has a meeter and greeter, and on each platform there is a person to process each coach, one at each end of the train, plus one at top and bottom of each escalator if not from the concourse platform. On board there is a travelling cleaner, an official snacks trolley plus a sausage on a stick seller.
The locals are clearly still getting used to train travel, one who ended up sitting next to me did not have a clue where her allocated seat was, and as soon as her station stop announcement was made, clearly panicking she rushed to pick up bags and dashed towards the doors. But the railway is a game changer for locals, there is still no major road all the way from Vientiane to Luang Prabang and our guide says they have no money to build it. From parts of the existing road we used its not great, and with the hills and rivers it follows it currently takes all day to drive Vientiane to Luang Prabang, or 1¾ hrs by train. My Boten - Vientiane single was 663,000 KIP, around £24 for 406km, it's a lot cheaper on K11/2.
Finally as a south north line, most blinds on the sunny side of the carriage were pulled down as it was well over 30°, in the north dropping to mid 20's late evening. Air-con on train OK, not too chilly.
