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Southeast Asia · rail through Laos

Rail and road freight from China to Thailand

China to Thailand

Kunming · Mohan – Boten · Vientiane South · Nong Khai · Khon Kaen · Bangkok · Laem Chabang

Corridor map: China to ThailandMap of land corridors between China and Thailand, drawn on one real projection with places at their latitude and longitude: Kunming · Mohan – Boten · Vientiane South · Nong Khai · Khon Kaen · Bangkok · Laem Chabang. Thailand is outlined and shaded. Lines join the listed places and are not surveyed tracks or schedules. THAILANDLAOSCHINAVIETNAMMYANMARCAMBODIA 20°N90°E100°E110°E KunmingMohan – BotenVientiane SouthBangkokLaem ChabangNong KhaiKhon Kaen 500 km Lines join the listed places; they are not surveyed tracks. Border crossingOrigin / destination
Corridor map: China to ThailandMap of land corridors between China and Thailand, drawn on one real projection with places at their latitude and longitude: Kunming · Mohan – Boten · Vientiane South · Nong Khai · Khon Kaen · Bangkok · Laem Chabang. Thailand is outlined and shaded. Lines join the listed places and are not surveyed tracks or schedules. THAILANDLAOSCHINAMYANMARCAMBODIA 15°N20°N25°N100°E105°E KunmingMohan – BotenVientiane SouthBangkokLaem Chabang 2000 km
  1. Kunming
  2. Mohan – BotenBorder crossing
  3. Vientiane SouthBorder crossing
  4. Nong Khai
  5. Khon Kaen
  6. Bangkok
  7. Laem Chabang

Thailand is reached from China through Laos, and the border between them is where the standard gauge ends. The Thai side of the corridor is new, still being tested, and run by rules written in Thai.

Ask about Thailand All rail & road corridors

At a glance

Thailand: three facts that shape the lane

Gauge

Containers are reloaded between standard and metre gauge

The China-Laos Railway is 1,435 mm gauge and Thai railways are metre gauge, so cargo is unloaded and reloaded at the Vientiane South yard.1

Rail services

A Laem Chabang–Nong Khai freight run was test-run in September 2026

Thailand's Ministry of Transport test-ran the rail freight service on 18 September 2026 under a public–private model.2

Documents

Thai for domestic haulage, Thai and English across the border

The Department of Land Transport requires dangerous-goods transport documents in Thai for domestic haulage and in Thai and English for cross-border haulage.3

The corridor

A second customs layer, then a third

Thai Customs Announcement No. 68/2568 of 13 May 2025 amended electronic customs transit for rail, with new reporting requirements, revised control measures and force majeure procedures.4 Thailand is not an ADR contracting party,5 so its own dangerous-goods rules apply to the truck leg from Nong Khai.

Thailand's state railway began intermodal services to Laem Chabang over the Friendship Bridge in August 2019,6 but whether a given service takes class 9 battery cargo is for the operator to confirm. Lithium batteries are screened case by case, subject to operator and country acceptance.

A worker holding a roll of stretch film beside a pallet of boxes

Places on this page's map

  • Vientiane South · Thanaleng. Where containers move to the Thai network.
  • Nong Khai. The Thai station across the Mekong from Laos.
  • Udon Thani and Khon Kaen. Railway cities on the line to Bangkok.
  • Bangkok. The capital and the main consignee area.
  • Laem Chabang. The deep-sea port east of Bangkok.

Route pages

Lanes to Thailand from inland Chinese cities

Rail route

Kunming → Bangkok

Kunming to Bangkok and Laem Chabang by rail through Laos: the Thanaleng gauge-transfer yard, Thai customs transit, Thai-language hazardous-goods paperwork and battery screening.

Read the Kunming to Bangkok route

Questions

Thailand: questions we are asked

Because the China-Laos Railway is standard gauge and Thai railways are metre gauge.1

Thai for domestic and Thai plus English for cross-border haulage.3

By sea instead

Compare with sea freight from China

Choosing a mode

Each mode accepts lithium batteries on its own terms

Rail, road and sea operators apply different acceptance rules, and a shipment that is refused on one mode can sometimes be planned on another. We screen the cargo first and name the mode afterwards.

References

Where these points come from

  1. Transshipment yard at Vientiane South Station of China-Laos Railway put into operation (China State Railway Group (English site), 8 July 2022)
  2. Nong Khai's new rail run makes debut (Bangkok Post, 19 September 2026)
  3. Thailand announces requirements for DG transport documents (Department of Land Transport notification) (Enviliance ASIA)
  4. New Thai Customs Announcement enhances electronic customs transit procedures for rail transport (Mahanakorn Partners Group, 15 May 2025)
  5. Status of ADR – United Nations Treaty Collection, chapter XI-B-14 (United Nations Treaty Collection)
  6. Southeast Asia: Tackling the break of gauge (Railway Gazette International, 15 March 2022)

Next step

Ask about China → Thailand

Ask about China → Thailand

Origin and destination are filled in; add the cargo facts you have.

Sending this form starts a review; it does not confirm carriage. Full enquiry form

After you send it

We check operator and country acceptance for China → Thailand before any booking, and ask for missing battery documents first.

All rail & road corridors · Sea routes from China

Need China → Thailand reviewed?

Share the cargo facts; we review the lane in writing.

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