Mongolia has launched a rail line that could help boost coal exports to China to 50 million tonnes a year, Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh said, ending a decade-long wait for the crossing.
A ceremony to mark the launch of the rail service between the Tavan Tolgoi coal field and Gashuun Sukhait on the Chinese border was held on Friday.
Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh was among the dignitaries in attendance, his Web site says.
Photo: AFP
Heavily dependent on mining, Mongolia has long sought cheaper and more efficient ways to export its minerals abroad and has a national strategy to expand its rail network connections with Russia and China.
Mining makes up one-quarter of the nation’s GDP.
China has stepped up its investment in coal in the face of extreme weather, an economic slowdown and a global fuel crisis.
The 233km Tavan Tolgoi rail line has the capacity to export between 30 million and 50 million tonnes of coal to China annually, according to Tavantolgoi Railway LLC, the state agency that built the line.
In 2020, the North Asian country exported 28.6 million tonnes of coal. Last year, exports fell to 15.9 million tonnes.
The railway is also expected to lower the cost to transport coal to US$8 per tonne, compared with US$32 per tonne when coal is delivered by truck, the railway authority said.
Tavan Tolgoi is rich in coking coal, an essential ingredient in the steelmaking process.
For years, coal has been transported in trucks to China, a process that has led to long lines at the border and frequent accidents.
Mongolian governments have attempted to build a railway from Tavan Tolgoi to the Gashuun Sukhait border for more than a decade.
Tavantolgoi LLC was formed in 2018 to complete the project. Ulan Bator-based Bodi International served as the general contractor.
The Gashuun Sukhait-Gantsmod border crossing is now the second Mongolia-China border point with a rail crossing, with the other at Zamyn-Uud-Erlian.
Progress Rail, a division of Caterpillar, agreed to supply 16 locomotives to support operations for the railway project.
The new locomotives are designed to fit the 1,520mm gauge used in Mongolia, Russia, and other former Soviet republics.
Mongolia’s current 1,900km rail network was almost entirely constructed during the 20th century with help from the Soviet Union. It consists mainly of the Trans-Mongolia line between Russia and China, and a spur line to the city of Erdenet.
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