Rail transport in Mongolia is an important means of travel in the

landlocked country A landlocked country is a country that does not have territory connected to an ocean or whose coastlines lie on endorheic basin, endorheic basins. There are currently 44 landlocked countries and 4 landlocked list of states with limited recogni ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

, which has relatively few paved roads. According to official statistics, rail transport carried 93% of Mongolian freight and 43% of passenger turnover in 2007. The Mongolian rail system employs 12,500 people. The national operator is UBTZ (Ulaanbataar Railway, mn, Улаанбаатар төмөр зам), traditionally also known as Mongolian Railway (MTZ, mn, Монголын төмөр зам). This can be a source of confusion, since MTZ is a distinct company established in 2008. The Mongolian Railway College is located in Ulaanbaatar.

Routes

The

Trans-Mongolian Railway , map_name = , map_state = collapsed , embedded = The Trans-Mongolian Railway follows an ancient tea-caravan route from China to Russia and connects Ulan-Ude, on the Trans–Baikal ( Trans–Siberian) railway in Ru ...

connects the

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the ea ...

from

Ulan Ude Ulan-Ude (; bua, Улаан-Үдэ, , ; russian: Улан-Удэ, p=ʊˈlan ʊˈdɛ; mn, Улаан-Үд, , ) is the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River, Buryatia, Uda River ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Erenhot Erenhot ( mn, ; , commonly shortened to Ereen or Erlian) is a county-level city of the Xilin Gol League, in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, located in the Gobi Desert along the Sino-Mongolian border, across from the Mongolian town of Zam ...

and

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

through the capital

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north ce ...

. The Mongolian section of this line runs for .Montsame News Agency. ''Mongolia''. 2006, , p. 93 The Trans-Mongolian Railway runs through Mongolia on

Russian gauge Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

track, changing to

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

track after entering China. There are several spur lines: to the copper combine in

Erdenet Erdenet ( mn, Эрдэнэт, literally "with treasure") is the third-largest city in Mongolia, with a 2018 population of 98,045, and the capital of the aimag (province) of Orkhon. Located in the northern part of the country, it lies in a valley ...

, to coal mines in

Sharyngol Sharyngol ( mn, Шарынгол; ) is a Sums of Mongolia, sum (district) of Darkhan-Uul Province in northern Mongolia. The 2010 population census estimated population for Sharyngol is 7,795, being one of the most populous cities in northern Mongol ...

Nalaikh Nalaikh () is one of nine Düüregs (districts) of the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. It is subdivided into 8 Khoroo A khoroo ( mn, хороо) is an administrative subdivision of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. The term is often tra ...

and

Baganuur 8Baganuur ( mn, Багануур, , ''Little Lake'') is one of nine düüregs (districts) of the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. It is subdivided into six khoroos (subdistricts). Baganuur is a distanced district, located as an exclave of on th ...

, to the

fluorspar Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon. The Mohs scal ...

mine in

Bor-Öndör Bor-Öndör ( mn, Бор-Өндөр) is a city in Khentii Province in eastern Mongolia. It is situated in the Darkhan sum (district), but is administrated separately. Geography The City is at an elevation of 1300 meters and located close to the ...

and to the former Soviet military base in Züünbayan. A separate railway line exists in the east of the country between Choibalsan and the Trans-Siberian at

Borzya Borzya ( rus, Борзя, p=ˈborzʲə; bua, Бооржо, ''Boorjo''; mn, Боорж, ''Boorj'') is a town and the administrative center of Borzinsky District in Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia, located southeast of Chita, the administrative center ...

; however, that line is closed to passengers beyond the Mongolian town of Chuluunkhoroot. This line used to have a spur line to the uranium mine at

Mardai Mardai is an abandoned uranium mining town located in the Dornod aimag of Mongolia, in a remote area north of Choibolsan. The Dornod area was prospected for uranium ore by the Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet ...

, however this spur line was torn up and sold in the late 1990s/ early 2000s. For domestic transport, daily trains run from

to Darkhan, Sukhbaatar, and Erdenet, as well as Zamyn-Üüd, Choir and Sainshand. Mongolia uses the (Russian gauge) with a total system length of . The Mongolian Railway (MongolRail) is slated to cover by year 2025. The coverage track distance will get increased by . Mongolian railways transported 20.5 million tons of freight in 2013, which is close to the system's full capacity. Transporting transit cargo between Russia and China is an important source of revenue for the country's railway system; in addition to this, railways are used to transport domestic coal to power plants.

Proposals

Standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

: ** Ukhaa Khudag (part of the

Tavan Tolgoi Tavan Tolgoi ( mn, Таван толгой, also Tavantolgoi, Tavantolgoy, "Five Hill") is one of the world's largest untapped coking and thermal coal deposits, located in the Ömnögovi Province in southern Mongolia. It has a total estimated r ...

coal field) -

Oyu Tolgoi The Oyu Tolgoi mine, also ( mn, Оюутолгой, ; "Turquoise Hill"), is a combined open pit and underground mining project in Khanbogd sum within the south Gobi Desert, approximately east of the Ömnögovi Province capital Dalanzadgad. ...

(copper/gold mine) - Gashuun Sukhait (Chinese border): ca. 260 km A special vote of the

Mongolian Parliament The State Great Khural, ; "State Great Assembly" is the unicameral parliament of Mongolia.Montsame News Agency. ''Mongolia''. 2006, Foreign Service office of Montsame News Agency, , p. 40 It is located in the Government Palace. History ;1 ...

made it possible to construct this railway on the 1435 mm

(for a seamless connection with China's railway network), rather than on the 1520 mm

used elsewhere in Mongolia. ** Nariin Sukhait (coal mine) - Shiveekhüren (Chinese border): ca. 45 km ---- **

Baotou Baotou (; mn, Buɣutu qota, Бугат хот) is the largest city by urban population in Inner Mongolia, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, as of the 2020 census, its built-up (''or metro'') area made up of its 5 urban districts is h ...

** Ukhaa Khudag - coal mine ---- *

Broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

: **

Sainshand Sainshand ( mn, Сайншанд; ) is the capital of Dornogovi Province in Mongolia. It is located in the eastern Gobi desert steppe, on the Trans-Mongolian Railway. Administration The territory of Sainshand sum consists of 5 ''bags'' (commune ...

- Choibalsan: ca. 1100 km

Rolling stock

As Mongolia's railroads are not electrified, UBTZ relies entirely on Diesel traction. Most common locomotives are M62 variants, including five rebuilt 2Zagal ( two white horses) double engines. Other engines include

TEM2 TEM2 (russian: link=no, ТЭМ2) is a Soviet diesel-electric shunting locomotive. The locomotive was used throughout the Soviet Union and was exported to Poland and Cuba. History The locomotive can be seen as a descendant of the DA units importe ...

and TE116 variants,

Dash-7 The de Havilland Canada DHC-7, popularly known as the Dash 7, is a turboprop-powered regional airliner with short take-off and landing (STOL) performance. It first flew in 1975 and remained in production until 1988 when the parent company, d ...

and one Evolution locomotive on lease from GE. In October 2010, Ulaanbaatar Railway ordered 35 2TE116UM diesel freight locomotives from Transmash.

Maps

UN Map

References

External links

*
Official site Railway Authority of Mongolia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mongolian Rail Transport