ULAANBAATAR, Sept 12, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Mongolia has launched a rail line that

could help boost coal exports to China to 50 million tonnes a year, the
country's president 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, according to his website.

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 a quarter of the country's gross domestic product.

China has stepped up its investment in coal in the face of extreme weather,
an economic slowdown and a global fuel crisis.

The 233-kilometre (145-mile) 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 $8 per
tonne, compared to $32 per tonne when coal is delivered by truck, according
to the railway authority.

Tavan Tolgoi is rich in coking coal, an essential ingredient in the steel-
making process.

For years coal has been transported in trucks to China, a process that has
led to long queues 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. Ulaanbaatar-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 1,520 mm gauge used in Mongolia,
Russia, and other former Soviet republics.

Mongolia's current 1,900 km 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.