First “banana train” arrives in Changsha, central China’s Hunan via China-Laos Railway

Staff members open a cold-chain container loaded with fresh bananas from Laos at an agricultural product distribution industrial park in Changsha, central China’s Hunan Province on Dec. 12, 2022. (People's Daily Online/courtesy of the interviewee)

A freight train carrying 25 cold-chain containers loaded with 500 tonnes of fresh bananas from Laos arrived at an agricultural product distribution industrial park in Changsha, central China’s Hunan Province on Dec. 12, 2022.

The train departed from Laotian capital Vientiane on Dec. 7 and headed northward on the China-Laos Railway to a border port in southwest China’s Yunnan Province for inspection and quarantine. It arrived at Changsha North Railway Station in Changsha via Huaihua West Railway Station in Huaihua city, Hunan. After arriving at the agricultural product distribution industrial park in Changsha, the bananas will be distributed and sold to various localities around the country.

It is the first “banana train” that travels directly to a specific Chinese city since the China-Laos Railway was put into operation a year ago. The “banana train” is also the first train to run under the “One Way, Two Parks” project between the Hunan provincial government and Laos.

“In the past, Laotian fruits were transported to Chinese cities mainly via cargo trucks. Due to traffic congestion, the fruits would be on the road for a long time and some would spoil because of this. Nowadays, the freight trains are not only punctual and fast, but are also installed with cold-chain containers to better guarantee the fruits’ quality,” said Tang Zhijun, general manager of Hongxing Agricultural Products Supply Chain Management (Hunan) Co., Ltd.

Various other companies affiliated to Hongxing Industry Group Co. also plan to transport high-quality fruits imported from Laos and its neighboring countries via the China-Laos Railway. They expect to import more than 50,000 tonnes of such fruits in one year.

The agricultural product distribution industrial park, which is owned by Hongxing Industry Group Co., is able to process 150,000 kg of bananas a day, supplying fresh bananas to residents in Hunan Province and its neighboring provinces.

The customs department in Changsha has signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between its counterpart in Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan, to guarantee smooth customs clearance for freight trains running on the China-Laos Railway.

A banana production and sales association is established in Changsha, central China’s Hunan Province on Dec. 12, 2022. (People's Daily Online/courtesy of the interviewee)

The two customs departments have also specially discussed customs clearance facilitation regarding the “banana train” from Laos.

In August this year, Hunan Province and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Laos jointly signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the two sides on the joint construction of the “One Way, Two Parks” project. Under the project, the two sides will join hands to realize an annual average agricultural product trade volume of over 1 million tonnes during the agreement period.

“The opening of the ‘banana train’ will promote good-neighborly and friendly relations between China and Laos, cement friendship between people and deepen business exchanges between the two countries. We hope more openness-oriented enterprises can share the outcomes of Changsha’s opening-up drive and promote common development with Changsha,” said Wang Donghua, deputy head of the commerce bureau of Changsha.