Russian Railways subsidiary RZD International is to provide technical assistance for the development of a 414 km rail link to the Tavan Tolgoi coalfield, following the signing of a co-operation agreement in Ulaanbaatar on 3 December.

Intended to carry up to 30 million tonnes a year, the 1 520 mm gauge line would run west from UBTZ’s current railhead at Zuun-Bayan to the Tavan Tolgoi coalfield near Tsogttsetsi.

With reserves estimated at up to 7 billion tonnes, this is a major a source of coking coal for steelmaking, much of which is currently moved by road to a railhead at Gashuun Sukhait on the Chinese border. Last year state-owned mining company Erdenes-Tavan Tolgoi committed to completing the railway by 2021, but as yet it has not put the necessary funding in place.