Vietnamese infrastructure developer Deoca Group is to team up with fuel distributor Petroleum Trading Lao (Petro Trade) to investigate the possibility of building a $6.3bn railway between Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and the central Vietnamese port of Vung Ang.

According to the Vietnamese website The Investor, the partners would invest $1.2bn in building a 103-km segment of the railway between Vung Ang and Mu Gia pass in the Vietnamese province of Quang Binh. This would be procured as a public–private partnership.

Ho Minh Hoang, chair of Deoca, said the companies would report back to their respective governments to approve the deal.

The government of Laos last year commissioned a feasibility study into the construction of a 555km electrified standard gauge line, to be known as the Laos–Vietnam Railway Project (LVRP). The aim is to extend Laos’ high-speed link to Kunming, China.

The line will be double-tracked and will have a maximum speed of 150km/h.

In July, the Lao government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Lao Petroleum Trading Company to oversee the study. PetroTrade said it would hire consulting firms to carry out the work, which was expected to be completed within 24 months.