MONGOLIA: Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene has officially opened the 226·9 km railway from Zuunbayan to Khangi on the Chinese border, saying it will form ‘Mongolia’s new gateway for transporting mining export products competitively to the global marketplace’.
The 1 520 mm gauge line interchanges with a newly constructed 1 435 mm gauge Chinese line to the border, providing a route for exporting commodities such as copper concentrate and coking coal to industrial centres such as Baotou.
The government predicts that the opening of the line will lead to a rapid 30% increase in rail export volumes, with an eventual doubling to around twice the current level of 10·4 mpta from 2025, significantly boosting state revenues and local employment.
Construction of the Zuunbayan – Khangi railway began in March 2022, with Mongolian Trans Line and Mongolian Trans Logistics leading 180 companies and more than 3 500 workers. Construction was completed in just eight months as work is not practical in the Mongolian winter.
New Recovery Policy
‘Today’s opening marks a major milestone in the government of Mongolia’s New Recovery Policy, which is focused on strengthening the country’s economy following the pandemic and making Mongolia into a leading Asian country by 2050’, said Oyun-Erdene.
At the start of this year landlocked Mongolia has 42 road border points and three railway links. The latest opening on November 25 is the second this year, following the 240 km line from the Tavan Tolgoi coal deposits to an inland port at Gashuun Sukhait on the Chinese border which opened in September.
