A group of 43 students from Thailand take a one-year high-speed railway training course at Chongqing Vocational College of Public Transportation. [Photo by Bai Lin / for china daily]

The Chongqing Vocational College of Public Transportation recently hosted 43 students from Thailand to help develop Thai high-speed railway technicians.

During the one-year training program, these students will learn Chinese language and high-speed railway practices, including railway maintenance, operation, telecommunication, mechatronics and locomotive.

As part of the Belt and Road Initiative, China and Thailand started building Thailand's first high-speed railway in December 2017.

China plans to build a 5,500-km Trans-Asia Railway, beginning in Yunnan's provincial capital Kunming and traveling through Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia, before ending in Singapore.