KUNMING, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Builders are establishing a fence along a newly completed section of a railway to connect China with Laos in efforts to protect wild elephants.

China Railway's Kunming bureau said on Monday that the fence will be extended to 36 km long in valley areas, where a tunnel group on the railway was completed on Friday in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Zheng Xiancan, a project manager with the bureau said the project planning has taken into consideration avoiding a migration pass of wild elephants. The fence is built with light and sound resistant technology to further reduce the railway's disturbance to wild animals.

There are around 300 wild elephants living in the region.

The China-Laos railway is expected to open by the end of 2021. It will slash the travel time between Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan, and Vientiane to half a day.