Mongolia will build five railways. As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, “One will connect Tavan Tolgoi, Sainshand to an existing railroad to Russia, while another four will run through China.” Once these rail systems are completed, China will be able to better tap into the immense mineral resources contained within Mongolia. Mongolia possesses some of the world’s largest deposits of coal, uranium, and copper.
Of technical interest, Wikipedia states “Mongolian trains run on 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+5⁄6 in) (Russian gauge), China uses 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) (standard gauge). For this reason, through carriages between the two countries must have their bogies changed at the border. Each carriage has to be lifted in turn to have its bogies changed and the whole operation, combined with passport and customs control, can take several hours. Freight wagons likewise have their bogies exchanged at this break-of-gauge.”
Likely, Mongolia will embrace the Chinese gauge as Mongolia and China have been drawing closer economically as indicated by the preliminary discussion of a Chinese/Mongolian Free Trade Agreement as discussed in the People’s Daily Online.
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Let Us Bring the World of Business to You!Tags: China, Chinese gauge, coal, copper, mineral resources, Mongolia, Mongolian Railways, railways, Russia, Russian gauge, Sainshand, San Francisco Chronicle, Tavan Tolgoi, trains in Mongolia, uranium, world's largest deposits
