Transportation in Mongolia

The transportation system in Mongolia consists of a network of railways, roads, waterways, and airports.

Railways

The Trans-Mongolian Railway connects the Trans-Siberian Railway from Ulan Ude in Russia to Erenhot and Beijing in China through the capital Ulan Bator. The track has a few side lines, most notably to the copper mines of Erdenet. A separate railway line exists in the east of the country between Choibalsan and the Trans-Siberian at Borzya. Mongolia uses a broad gauge 1.524-m track system. The total length of the system 1,810 km.

Roadways

Only about 2600 km of Mongolia's road network are paved, this includes the roads from Ulaanbaatar to the Russian and Chinese borders, much of the road from Ulaanbaatar to Kharkhorin and Arvaikheer and a partly parallel road from Lün to Dashinchilen, as well as the road from Darkhan to Bulgan via Erdenet. Another 3900 km are graveled or otherwise improved. The vast majority of Mongolia's official road network, some 40,000 km, are simple cross-country tracks. [ [http://www.intranet.unescap.org/ttdw/roadsafety/StatusPapers2006/Mongolia_statuspaper.pdf "Status paper on Road Sector of Mongolia"] ] [ [http://202.131.5.91/yearbook/2007/yearbook2007.pdf Mongolia's Statistical Yearbook 2007] ] Construction is underway on an east-west road (the so-called Millenium road) that incorporates the already existing road from Ulaanbaatar to Arvaikheer, and on the extension of the Darkhan-Bulgan road beyond Bulgan. [ [http://gate1.pmis.gov.mn/zavkhan/document/avto_zam-2007.ppt Авто замын салбарт 2007 онд хэрэгжиж байгаа зам, гүүрийн барилга байгууламж, тэсэл арга хэмжээ] (in Mongolian, needs additional fonts to display properly)]

Waterways

Mongolia has a total of 580 km of waterways. However, only Lake Khövsgöl has ever been heavily used. The Selenge (270 km) and Orkhon (175 km) rivers are navigable but carry little traffic. The lakes and rivers freeze over in the winter and are usually open between May and September.

Air transportation

As of 2006, Mongolia has a total of 44 airports. Of these, 12 have paved runways. 10 of these paved runways range in length between 2,438 and 3,047 m . The other paved runway is between 1,524 and 2,437 m.

Of the 32 remaining airports with unpaved runways, 2 of them have runways over 3,047 m, 3 have runways between 2,438 and 3,047 m, 24 have runways between 1,524 and 2,437 m, two have runways between 914 and 1,523 m, and one has runways under 914 m. Mongolia also has 1 heliport.

Domestic carriers include MIAT, Aero Mongolia, and Eznis Airways.

References

* [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mg.html#Trans CIA World Factbook]
* [http://www.eznisairlines.com Eznis Airways:Schedule & Charter airline of Mongolia]