This photo taken on Oct. 8, 2023 shows a view of the launch ceremony of the 1st freight train of Shanghai-Kunming Lancang-Mekong Express at Wangjiaying West Station in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province. A freight train loaded with goods from Southeast Asia and specialty products of Yunnan left Kunming on Sunday, and was expected to reach its destination Shanghai in 82 hours. This marked the official launch of the Shanghai-Kunming Lancang-Mekong Express freight train service, which runs on the China-Laos Railway and the Shanghai-Kunming Railway to connect the Laotian capital of Vientiane and east China's Shanghai. (Xinhua/Hu Chao)

A freight train service between Shanghai and Vientiane, capital of Laos, was launched on Sunday.

A train loaded with cargo including fruits and rubber from Southeast Asia departed from the Wangjiaying West Station in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province on Sunday morning, marking the inauguration of the service.

The train is expected to take 82 hours to reach Shanghai, according to the information office of the Kunming municipal government.

This train service, which links the China-Laos Railway and the Shanghai-Kunming Railway, will be operated both ways.

The China-Laos Railway is a landmark project under the Belt and Road Initiative. Since the start of its operation in December 2021, trains using the line have delivered some 27 million tonnes of cargo to destinations including Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar. Up to 25 provincial areas in China have launched cross-border freight train services along the railway line, figures show.