A ceremony to mark the launch of the rail service between the Tavan Tolgoi coalfield 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.
Mongolia is heavily dependent on mining and has long sought cheaper and more efficient ways to export its minerals abroad, with a national strategy in place to expand its rail network connections with Russia and China.
Mining makes up a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product.
This comes as China has stepped up its investment in coal in the face of extreme weather, an economic slowdown and a global fuel crisis.The 233km (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, the state agency that built the line.
The railway is also expected to lower the cost of coal transport to US$8 per tonne, compared to US$32 per tonne for truck delivery, according to the railway authority.
The North Asian country exported 28.6 million tonnes of coal in 2020, but that figure fell to 15.9 million tonnes last year.
Tavan Tolgoi is rich in coking coal, an essential ingredient in the steelmaking process.
For years coal has been transported to China in trucks, 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 was formed in 2018 to complete the project, with Bodi International – based in the capital Ulaanbaatar- serving as the general contractor.
The Gashuun Sukhait-Gantsmod border crossing is now the second Mongolia-China border point with a rail crossing, the other being at Zamyn-Uud-Erlian.
Progress Rail, a division of US giant 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, as well as Russia and other former Soviet republics.
Mongolia’s current 1,900km rail network was almost entirely built during the 20th century with help from the Soviet Union.
It consists mainly of the Trans-Mongolian line between Russia and China, and a spur line to the city of Erdenet.
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