China and its southern neighbour Vietnam are pulling together to build three standard gauge, high-speed rail links. The infrastructure project will help to streamline logistics in the area and connect China up to more countries in Southeast Asia.

Two already existing rail lines in Vietnam will be converted to standard gauge as used in China, whereas one such line will be built entirely from scratch, according to YiCai Global. The publication writes that the harmonisation of rail infrastructure will “greatly improve rail freight transport between the two countries.”

The high-speed infrastructure plan comes at a moment when trade between China and Vietnam is booming. Bilateral trade grew by more than 20 per cent between January and July 2024 and amounted to 145 billion US dollars, according to YiCai Global. It seems that China and Vietnam believe that adequate rail infrastructure can help boost those numbers even further.

Not the only route to Southeast Asia

Vietnam’s new standard gauge railways will be part of a route that connects China’s Kunming with Singapore. After passing through Vietnam, the line continues into neighbouring Cambodia. Besides the Vietnamese route, China has connections to Singapore through Laos, Thailand and Malaysia, as well as Myanmar and Thailand, according to YiCai Global.