Ts.Bulganzaya was among the journalists
taken to Zamiin-Uud last week by UB Railway for a study tour. Here is her
report.

Zamiin-Uud in Dornogobi
province, 780 kilometers away from UB, is the main port connecting Mongolia and
China, with 250 train cars daily coming there from China during the peak season.
Since the railway gauges of China and Mongolia are different, every set of
wheels has to be changed when a train crosses the border. This is a very
time-consuming exercise.

Food and construction
material make up most of Mongolian imports from China, while our major exports
by train are livestock products and secondary goods. Imports have grown by 50
percent, and exports by about 13-20 percent. According to D.Khatanbaatar,
deputy director of Zamiin-Uud railway station, total freight handled there was
1.4 million tons in July and is expected to be 1.2 million tons in August.

Many feel speed and capacity
will improve if Zamiin-Uud soum is turned into an economic free zone (EFZ). The
Government said in 2003 it would do so but very little has been done in seven
years to implement that declaration. A road tender has been announced only
recently.  Zamiin-Uud is expected to have
a population of 30,000 soon, in place of today’s 13,000, which itself is a big
rise from the 1,000 in the 1990s. Opportunities have grown and the coming up of
an EFZ will surely create many more jobs and increase freight movement.

UB Railway too has stirred into
action, installing new loading divisions and improving loading capacity to 310
railway cars a day. Since the daily load is 250 cars at the most, there are
almost no problems.

Passenger volume has risen
by 40 percent this year. The rush, particularly in August, has been so great
that there was no space in some trains on some days. Most people travel to Erlian
City in China, 8 km from Zamiin-Uud. This is the commercial hub and receives 2,000
traders a day. Right now, many are travelling there to buy things for the new
academic year and, of course, the mining boom has also led to an increase in
the number of passengers.

The Railway has taken several
measures to cope with the rush, increasing the number of cars in a train to 27
from 24, making space for 243 more passengers. Accommodation can be booked two
months in advance and tickets can be bought in Darkhan, Erdenet, Sukhbaatar,
Sainshand, Choir and Zamiin-Uud, apart from Ulaanbaatar. Internet booking is
also possible.