The Vietnam Railway Authority has proposed the Ministry of Transport to to approve a railway project for connecting Vietnam's Lao Cai Station to China's Hekou Station to facilitate freight transportation, the Giao Thong (Transport) online newspaper has reported.

The project includes upgrading and converting 200 m of the existing 1,000 mm gauge line into a dual-gauge line (1,000 mm and 1,435 mm) from Lao Cai Station to the starting point of the new line segment; constructing 2.7 km of the new line segment (a dual-gauge railway up to the new Ho Kieu bridge); and building 2.5 km of dual-gauge railway tunnels.

The proposed project requires an estimated investment capital of VND2.15 trillion ($90 million). The fund is expected to be sourced from the mid-term public investment capital for 2026-2031 periods, according to the Vietnam Railway Authority.