RAILWAY RENOVATION DISCUSSED

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Kh.Battulga, President of Mongolia, received Thursday D.Ganbat, Minister for Road and Transport Development; D.Jigjidnyamaa, Chairman of the Mongolian-Russian “Ulaanbaatar Railway” Joint Venture; B.Erdenebayar, Deputy Director of “Mongolian Railways” State-Owned Company and Head of the Department of Adjustment of Railroad and Maritime Transport Policies. The news was published on the President’s website. The meeting was held in the margin of the preparations to the expected working visit and attendance of the President in the Eastern Economic Forum to be held in Vladivostok, Russia. At the meeting, the President and the high officials touched upon matter of renovation of the Ulaanbaatar Railway, which had remained on the table for a quite long time. 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, Z.Enkhbold, Chairman of the Office of the President of Mongolia and L.Purevsuren, President’s Advisor on Foreign Policy. B.Khuder