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By rail

The First Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge, built in the 1990s, crosses the river 18 kilometres downstream of the city of Nong Khai in Thailand, and is the major crossing between the two countries. The official name of the bridge was changed in 2007 by the addition of "First", after the Second Friendship Bridge linking Mukdahan in Thailand with Savannakhet in Laos was opened early in 2007.

A metre gauge railway link over the first bridge was formally inaugurated on 5 March 2009, previously ending at Thanaleng Railway Station, in Dongphosy village (Vientiane Prefecture), 20 km east of Vientiane. As of November 2010, Lao officials plan to convert the station into a cargo rail terminal for freight trains, allowing cargo to be transported from Bangkok into Laos more cheaply than via road. The rail link has since been extended 7.5km further into the city, to terminate at Vientiane (Khamsavath) railway station, a bigger and newer station closer to the city, with connections to the Central Bus Terminal and the Laos China Railway Station. The first passenger train arrived from Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal in Bangkok on 20 July 2024. The new station has immigration facilities, offices, shops and more platforms.

The Boten–Vientiane railway (sometimes referred to as the China–Laos railway or Laos–China railway) is an 414 kilometres (257 mi) 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) standard gauge electrified railway in Laos, running between the capital Vientiane and the town of Boten on the border with China. The line was officially opened on 3 December 2021.