Rail traffic between Russia, Mongolia and China via Naushki increases 40%in 2023 - Russian Railways

IRKUTSK. Jan 31 (Interfax) - The volume of goods for foreign trade transported via the Naushki, Buryatia-Sukhbaatar (Mongolia) border rail crossing increased 40% in 2023 YoY to almost 8 million tonnes, the East Siberian Railway branch of Russian Railways said.

Export cargo transferred last year by rail from Russia to Mongolia reached 2.7 million tonnes (a 12.5% increase), while cargo transiting Mongolia to China reached 3.6 million tonnes (an 80% increase).

Over 1.5 million tonnes of cargo were transported from China to Russia via Mongolia (a 50% increase), while over 172,000 tonnes went from Mongolia to Russia (a 6% decrease).

Earlier, Head of the East Siberian Railway Vadim Vladimirov said that the importance of the Naushki station started increasing with the new emphasis on sending export freight traffic to the east of the country.

Russian Railways began work on the Naushki station in 2023, rebuilding the transshipment complex and extending the capability of the tracks for incoming and outgoing trains. The work is being done to prepare for an increase in prospective annual traffic volume through the station to 15 million tonnes by 2025, and 20 million tonnes by 2030.

The East Siberian Railway said it would put the reconstructed facilities in Naushki into permanent operation in February 2025.

In addition, Russian Railways is studying the possibility of increasing the capacity of the Ulan-Ude - Naushki section of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which leads to the border with Mongolia.