Russian Railways joint-stock-company signs memorandum with Mongolia

October 15, 2009 | News
Today in Ulan Bator an international conference was held on the Strategic Development of Mongolia’s Railway Infrastructure, with the participation of Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin, Mongolian Minister of Roads, Transportation, Construction and Urban Development Khaltmaa Battulga, Infrastructure Development General Director Vitaly Morozov, Korea Rail Network Authority President Cho Hyun-yong, Wang Linshu, the senior adviser to the Chinese minister of railways, and representatives of Ivanhoe Mines and Boston Consulting Group.

During the conference, Russian Railways signed a memorandum with the Mongolian Ministry of Roads, Transportation, Construction and Urban Development on launching the project to build the Zuunbayan-Dalanzadgad (Tavantolgoy) rail line.

The document was signed by Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin and Mongolian Minister of Roads, Transportation, Construction and Urban Development Khaltmaa Battulga.
The sides agreed to support the strategy, drawn up by Infrastructure Development, for the Mongolian-Russian project to develop the Ulan Bator Railway and build new railway infrastructure in Mongolia.
In particular, the document notes the need to swiftly start the Zuunbayan- Dalanzadgad (Tavantolgoy) rail line project to support the development of deposits in the South Gobi Region of Mongolia.

With this in view, Russian Railways is ready to start in November 2009 the stage-by-stage financing of design and surveying work for the construction of the Zuunbayan- Dalanzadgad (Tavantolgoy) rail line, to the sum of $250 million.

On the transit potential of the country and its integration into the international transport network, Vladimir Yakunin noted that the geopolitical positions of Russia and Mongolia, as well as the shared technical base of their railways, enables them to seek an important role in the global economic system as a transport bridge between two major macroeconomic regions – the European Union and the Pacific Rim.

“In addition to the possible transport route for the export of Mongolian raw materials to China, the use of the Trans-Siberian route will enable their export to Japan, South Korea, and other countries via Russia’s Far East ports, and also in the future via the developing North Korean port of Rason. In this way, Mongolian freight will have a reliable outlet to sea ports,” Vladimir Yakunin said.

Source:http://rail-news.com/2009/10/15/rzd-signs-memorandum-with-mongolia/