On April 30, the bid for the China-Mongolia cross-border railway (Gashusuhaitu-Ganqimaodu) was opened, and the China Railway Construction Bridge Engineering Bureau and China Railway Fourth Bureau participated in the bidding, with the former offering US$247 million and the latter US$266 million.

According to the tender documents, the total budget of the "Gashusuhaitu-Ganqimaodu" cross-border railway project is about 848.8 billion Mongolian tugrik (equivalent to 238 million US dollars), which is mainly arranged by Mongolia's own funds. Previously, Tawang Tolgoi Mongolia said it would provide financing support for the project.

Previously, on April 16, Mongolia issued the "Measures to Increase Coal Exports". Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun Erden demanded that the China-Mongolia cross-border railway (Gashusuhaitu-Ganqimaodu) be officially started by May 14 and put into operation in early 2027.

The China-Mongolia cross-border railway (Gashusuhaitu-Ganqimaodu) is not long, with 8.081 kilometers, but it needs to build 5.441 kilometers of bridges, and adopts the parallel mode of "broad gauge + quasi-gauge". There is one broad-gauge and one quasi-gauge main trunk line (the Mongolian railway adopts the 1520 mm gauge standard), which is connected to the Mongolian side in broad gauge and handed over to the Chinese side, and the Chinese side handles the goods in broad gauge in Mongolia.

The China-Mongolia cross-border railway (Gashusu Haitu-Ganqimaodu) has an annual design capacity of 45 million to 50 million tons [a bit doubtful]. What is this concept?

It can undertake 55%-60% of Mongolia's coal export tasks. In 2024, China imported 82.92 million tons of coal from Mongolia.

According to the Mongolian Statistics Office, in 2024, Mongolia will produce 97.7215 million tons of coal (up 20.2% year-on-year) and export 83.755 million tons (up 20.3% year-on-year)

At present, the Gashusu Haitu port is the largest border port for Mongolia to export mineral resources to China, accounting for about 50% of Mongolia's exports of coking coal and copper, and 47.2% of Mongolia's total road exports (more than 40 million tons)

In April 2025, Tawang Tolgoi Mongolia (TTZ) and Guoneng Baoshen Railway Group held talks to discuss coal procurement, sales and transportation arrangements for the Gashusuhaitu to Ganqimaodu cross-border railway, and agreed to set up a joint working group.

However, the railway did not reach the Sino-Mongolian border and was connected to our country's railway. In other words, the coal mines in Tawang Tolgoi and the copper-gold mines in Oyu Tolgoi need to be transported to China by truck after being transported by rail to the Gashusu chart.

Therefore, the construction of the railway connecting Gashusuhaitu and Ganqimaodu aims to break through the bottleneck of the "last mile" of China-Mongolia railway transportation.

The China-Mongolia cross-border railway (Gashusuhaitu-Ganqimaodu) is the second cross-border railway between China and Mongolia, and the first is the "Zamyn-Uud-Erenhot" railway. Regarding the "Ceke-Xibekulun Port" railway, there are still 3.75 kilometers of railway on our side that have not been built, and it has not yet been officially opened.

At present, there are three main coal mining areas in Mongolia, in addition to the TT mining area, there are also Aobat Tolgoi Coal Mine and Nalin Suhaitu Coal Mine (there are also Baganor Coal Mine and Xibe Aobao Coal Mine). The Sino-Mongolian coal trade mainly passes through five border ports, from east to west are Erenhot, Mandula, Ganqimaodu, Ceke, and Takshiken, mainly by automobile transportation, and the highest customs clearance volume is Ganqimaodu.

On the whole, the development of mineral resources in Mongolia is still in its infancy, and the future development is promising. What can be expected is to keep a low profile and not make trouble all over the world.(This article is from the official website of Seetao www.seetao.com. Reprinting without permission is strictly prohibited. Please indicate Seetao.com + original link when reprinting) Seetao.com Strategy Column Editor/Sun Fengjuan