A freight train fully loaded with goods departed from Kunming City of southwest China's Yunnan Province for Laos on Thursday, marking a new milestone for the China-Laos Railway which has transported over 50 million tons of cargo since its launch in 2021, according to China Railway Kunming Bureau Group Co., Ltd.
The railway has transported a total of 11.58 million tons of cross-border cargo.
Since its operation, the railway department has introduced innovative services like the "Lancang-Mekong Express."
The express service utilizes dedicated freight trains capable of reaching speeds of 120 kilometers per hour, a speed much faster than traditional international freight train operations.
Over 1,670 trains featuring this service have been operated to date.
Meanwhile, collaboration among railway, customs, and border check agencies in China and Laos has greatly enhanced the management at the Mohan railway port, cutting clearance time for goods imports by 60 percent and exports by 90 percent.
"We have deeply explored the potential of China-Laos Railway, promoted innovative models such as advance declaration of inbound goods and 'rapid customs clearance for rail service'. We have implemented reforms of 'single document regime' for multimodal transport, and railway waybill financing. By introducing cutting-edge technologies like 5G, Beidou, and AI, we have created a digital and intelligent freight yard, significantly enhancing the efficiency of loading and unloading operations," said Tao Qiang, deputy director of the freight department under China Railway Kunming Bureau Group Co., Ltd.
China-Laos Railway handles over 50 million tons of goods
China-Laos Railway handles over 50 million tons of goods
The World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) on Monday called for enhanced surveillance of viruses of animal origin, as recent hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks have sparked global alarm.
The 93rd General Session of the World Assembly of Delegates of the WOAH kicked off on Monday in Paris, France. WOAH's Director General Emmanuelle Soubeyran and other experts attending the session stressed that strengthening the surveillance of animal-borne viruses and improving early detection capabilities are crucial to reducing public health risks.
Citing a recent WOAH report, Soubeyran noted that approximately 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases worldwide originate from animals. She emphasized the importance of intensifying research into cross-species transmission pathways of viruses.
"What is important, maybe for us, is to really understand how there is a jump from wildlife to humans or to farm animals. So that's very important to understand, to make research, to understand how this spillover is appearing," she said.
In a recent statement, WOAH said that the hantavirus is an animal-borne virus primarily hosted by rodents. It said that effective rodent management based on an integrated ecological approach is an important measure to reduce the risk of human infection. Continuous monitoring and early detection mechanisms, it added, are essential for mitigating public health risks.
"It has a zoonotic origin and it's quite fatal in humans. There are different serotypes or strains of hantavirus and not each strain is affecting humans, but only one of them is transmissible from human to human. So surveillance is important because of the early detection and to avoid fatalities in humans and to guide the communities to take precautionary measures and to invest in health emergencies on the human side," said Tahreem Khalid, Animal Health Information Officer at WOAH.
Through enhanced animal surveillance, improved laboratory capacity, and facilitated information sharing, the organization aims to strengthen countries’ abilities to respond to risks and promote cross-sectoral collaboration under the "One Health" framework.
World Organization for Animal Health urges tighter monitoring of animal-borne viruses
