With the last casting of concrete on the top of the main building of the future Nateuy station, the China Railway Construction Engineering Group (CRCEG) finished building the first station along the China-Laos railway on Wednesday.

The Nateuy station, a key passenger and freight distribution center in northern Laos, includes one platform and three rails, and a station hall, a waiting hall, ticket halls, substations and other rooms for offices.

Since its construction on July 20, the CRCEG project department has adhered to both epidemic prevention and control and engineering construction, carefully strengthened safety and quality control, and vigorously carried out technical research.

All the engineers have overcome the adverse effects of the long rainy season and heavy rainfall in Laos, the inconvenience of entry for construction workers caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, and the lack of construction materials. However, the Chinese engineering company has managed to accelerate the building to ensure that the top of the station was capped on Wednesday, ahead of schedule.

The China-Laos Railway is a strategic docking project between the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Laos' strategy to convert from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub.

The 422-km railway, with 198-km-long 75 tunnels and 62-km bridges, will run from Boten border gate in northern Laos, bordering China, to Vientiane with an operating speed of 160 km per hour.

The electrified passenger and cargo railway is built with the full application of Chinese management and technical standards.

The project started in December 2016 and is scheduled to be completed and operational in December 2021.