On March 20, 2004, an agreement between the Thai and Lao governments was signed to extend the State Railway of Thailand's Northeastern Line from Nong Khai to Thanaleng, a town on the opposite side of the Mekong in Laos.
In November 2010, however, Lao and Thai officials confirmed that their joint extension project had been scrapped in favor of a high-speed train project supported by the governments of Thailand and China, which would pass through Laos.