On October 3, with the completion of pouring of the last integrated track bed slab in Jingzhai Tunnel, ballastless track slab construction was completed along the entire China-Laos Railway, creating favorable conditions for subsequent track-laying completion and operation by the end of the year.

Jingzhai Tunnel, 9.5 km long, is a single-track tunnel designed for 160 km/h and was the last "fortress" conquered along the entire line. After completion and opening, trains will pass through it in only 4 minutes, yet builders persevered and worked there for more than 1,700 days and nights.

Since construction began, Jingzhai Tunnel has experienced nearly a thousand hazards such as water and mud inrushes, collapses, and soft rock deformation. The maximum single-day water inflow reached 75,000 cubic meters, enough to fill 30 standard swimming pools.

On June 5 this year, the entire Jingzhai Tunnel was safely holed through. Facing construction pressure including a large amount of remaining work, primary support deformation intruding into the clearance, collapses, and the difficulty of arch removal and replacement as well as high safety risks, the construction unit worked together through scientific construction organization, strict process standards, and strengthened safety control. Secondary lining construction was completed on September 23, and ballastless track construction began.

In response to multiple unfavorable factors such as narrow working faces, complex procedures, high temperatures inside the tunnel, and difficult supply, China Railway 22nd Bureau Group Co., Ltd. reversed the schedule, clarified the division of labor, organized carefully, and strengthened resources and equipment. Each process was tracked and handled by dedicated personnel, and each process milestone was strictly controlled. Leaders at all levels and frontline management personnel ate and lived at the construction site, working in 24-hour shifts, ensuring efficient progress of on-site construction and production. Ballastless track construction reached 168 meters in a single day for consecutive days, setting a domestic construction record.

Ballastless track is the last procedure before track laying on newly built railways. When ballastless track construction is carried out in a single-track tunnel, due to the narrow construction space and passageways, construction efficiency is low, and problems such as discontinuity and segregation are likely to occur during concrete pouring. Builders therefore need to organize carefully so that each procedure proceeds smoothly and procedures are closely connected, while monitoring and adjusting concrete performance in real time, in order to ensure quality standards are met.

At present, the subgrade, bridges, tunnels, and communication, signal, power, and electrification works of the China-Laos Railway have all been completed, static acceptance is in full swing, station building decoration is nearing completion, and mainline track laying is 97% complete, with more than 20 km remaining. The entire line will be laid through in October, entering dynamic acceptance and "trial runs."

The China-Laos Railway starts in Kunming City, Yunnan Province in the north and runs south through Yuxi City, Pu'er City, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, and the Mohan border port between China and Laos to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, with a total length of more than 1,000 km. After it is completed and opened to traffic by the end of this year, the journey from Kunming, Yunnan to Jinghong will take only more than 3 hours, and direct transport to Vientiane, Laos is expected to be achieved with same-day arrival.