Wreaths of flowers instead of champagne for the inauguration of the more than 1,000-kilometer-long train route from Kunming, the capital of the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan, to Laos. The final section between the China-Laos border town of Boten and Vientiane, the capital of Laos, has been put into operation. The project, which came about as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, cost $5.9 billion (China.Table reported).