LONG-AWAITED ISSUE OF RAILWAY RENOVATION DISCUSSED
President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga received Minister for Road and Transport Development D.Ganbat, Chairman of the Mongolian-Russian Joint “Ulaanbaatar Railway” Venture D.Jigjidnyamaa, Deputy Director of “Mongolian Railways” State-Owned Company B.Erdenebayar and Head of the Department of Adjustment of Railroad and Maritime Transport Policies, on August 24.
The meeting was held in the margin of the preparations to the expected working visit and attendance of the President of Mongolia, Mr. Kh.Battulga in the Eastern Economic Forum, to take place in Vladivostok of the Russian Federation.
On the sidelines of this meeting, the matter of renovation of the Ulaanbaatar Railway, which had remained on the table for a quite long time, has been touched upon.
Initially, a loan of approximately RUB 100 billion is necessary for the foremost priority works, including the overhaul maintenance for reinforcement of main railroad with length of 467 kilometers, repair work at the 165 km railroad connecting Salkhit to Erdenet, repair work for straightening the 25 km curved road passing through Emeelt-Khoolt and Khonkhor. More works, such as renovation of technical equipment and electric supply stations, have been planned. These works incorporate more details such as replacing wooden sleepers with concrete, increasing the number of intersections, and reinforcing the reserve of freight and spare locomotives, and add more railway carriages.
In the absence of adequate renovation, the Ulaanbaatar Railway has reportedly been facing some problems in carrying the freight load, which resulted in stagnation of transport processes, shortage of carriages and incompetence in fulfilling the intended operations. Therefore, it has been mentioned during the meeting that the only existing corridor must be taken care of immediately.
Present were at the meeting, Chairman of the Office of the President of Mongolia Z.Enkhbold and President’s Advisor on Foreign Policy L.Purevsuren.