Ulaanbaatar has 134 bus routes and it is safe to assume each of them carries 50,000 people on an average per day. The city also has around 200,000 cars. Travelling in the city will change radically once the underground transit system is built. 

The project was unfolded to selected MPs yesterday. Its cost will be MNT4 trillion, of which 20 percent can be recouped in two years. Authorities granted MNT400 million for the survey from the city budget. If the project is passed by Parliament this year, work on it can begin in 2012.

The Asian Development Bank conducted a study in 2009 and recommended building an underground. That was the seed of the present project. Its tracks will be north-south and east-west. The first will be 21.3 kilometers long, from School #17 to Buyant Ukhaa, and the second 28.3 kilometers, from Tovchoo #22 to Amgalan.

Some parts of the tracks will be over the ground but when they go under they will be at a depth of 15-20 meters. Altogether 18 kilometers within the city center will be built underground but in the suburbs the tracks will be built over the ground.

It is likely that all the present underground network of heating, water supply etc. will have to be shifted. This will be an enormous operation, but the Korean-made feasibility study is certain this can be done efficiently. If construction does begin next year, Mongolians could travel underground in 2017.

Each train will have 78 seats and transport 137 passengers, including those standing. MPs approved of what they saw and felt there should be no politicizing the underground project. Mayor G.Munkhbayar will take personal interest in its progress.