Experts from Deutsche Bahn will be responsible for the overall project planning for a new freight railway in southern Mongolia. This involves a 260-kilometer long line for the transport of coal to the Chinese border. The relevant contract was signed at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology on Thursday by Jambaljamts Odjargal, CEO of the Mongolian company Energy Resources LLC, and Martin Bay, Chairman of the Board of Management of DB International GmbH. This was timed to coincide with the visit of Sanjaa Bayar, Prime Minister of Mongolia, to Berlin. The ceremony was also attended by Federal Minister Dr. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and Dr. Otto Wiesheu, member of the Deutsche Bahn Board of Management. DB International, a wholly owned subsidiary of DB Mobility Logistics AG, has already prepared a preliminary study for the planned mine railway. 'This contract is a further success for the international strategy of DB and the expertise of our project managers,' commented Wiesheu, who is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of DB International. The agreed order volume amounts to almost EUR four million, and the overall project planning is estimated at approx. EUR 15 million. Total investment volume for this rail project is expected to amount to up to 800 million dollars.
Mongolia is an important transit country between China and Russia and is also assuming an increasingly significant role for rail freight traffic between Asia and Europe. 'DB International has been active in Mongolia for the past two years and this contract is proof of the confidence our Mongolian partners have in our company,' said Bay in Berlin.
DB International will assume overall project planning, procurement management, monitoring of deadlines and costs, as well as quality assurance. DB International will also provide support in connection with establishment and operation of the freight railway, which will be designed as a single-track line for an axle load of 25 tons. It will be used for the transport of coal from Ukhaa Khudag in the south of Mongolia to the border crossing at Gashuun Sukhait. Construction work on the railway line to China is scheduled to begin before the end of this year and the first trains are to run in 2011.
