A new rail route to transport coal from Olon-Ovoo station in the Dornogobi province to China's port city of Tianjin started operation on 23^rd of March. Tianjin is the closest sea port to Mongolia's southern border and the most important logistics hub in the north of China.

The staff of the Ulaanbaatar Railway Joint Venture completed the first phase of the terminal within 20 days which has a capacity to offload coal from 100-150 rail trucks daily. As a result, coal export to China expects to rise by 200 tonnes per month and 2.5 million tonnes a year. Coal loaded from Olon Ovoot will be transported in open rail trucks directly to Tianajin through the Erlian (Erenhot) border crossing.

The Terminal logistics project has been implemented in partnership with the private sector with a total investment with MNT 1.4 billion (approximately 57000 USD). Olon Ovoo station was established in 1974. As of today, the station, located in the heart of the Gobi Desert is operating with a loading capacity of 170 rail trucks of coal per day.

Mongolia's economic slump has been largely caused by the deflated world market for coal and copper; this tough period seems to be coming to an end as demand picks up. For example, during the whole of 2016, Mongolia transported a total of 189 thousand tonnes coal to China; but in the first three months of 2017 alone, this has increased to 249 thousand tonnes.