During a visit to Selenge Province, Speaker of Parliament Z.Enkhbold attended the opening ceremony for a 33.4 km railway from Tumurtei mine to Khandgait Station in Khuder soum on April 3. The railway was recently transferred to state-owned Mongolian Railway JSC (MTZ), along with its station for loading and unloading freight, under a government resolution issued on February 1, 2016. Qualified Mining Consultants LLC established a concessional agreement with the government and built the railway as part of a subproject aimed at resolving transportation issues. The railway will provide quicker transportation of raw materials from a direct-reduced iron plant to be built adjacent to the Darkhan Metallurgical Plant. The the 33.4 km-long railway was built as part of a complex with three terminals, as well as railway crossings and stations fully equipped with the latest technology and railway signals. It was completed within a year. Speaker Z.Enkhbold gave a speech for the opening, emphasizing the importance of the opening ceremony and the first freight rail line established from Turmurtei mine to the Khandgait railway station. While pointing to a poster behind him which read “Mongolians Will Develop Mongolia”, he said, “This is the slogan of the Darkhan Metallurgical Plant. Large development projects in Mongolia were completed with assistance from foreign companies many decades ago. Foreigners used to doubt that Mongolians could do it by themselves. Today’s development work was completed by Mongolians. It is actual proof that we can do develop on our own.” Afterwards, Speaker Z.Enkhbold reviewed operations at the Tumurtei mine station. He expressed full confidence that infrastructure would improve and more people would live and establish commerce around the area following the opening of the new railway station. Speaker Z.Enkhbold reviewing Tumurtei mine-Khandgait railway[/caption] A video conferencing system was installed at the station as well. Advising Engineer of Mongolian Resources Corporation O.Dorjsugar noted that it was the second video conferencing system installed in Mongolia, enabling provincial administrators to hold online conferences. The Mongolian Resources Corporation was in charge of installing railway signals in addition to the video conferencing system. MTZ plans to transport a million tons of iron ore this year and aims to increase transportation volume by eight to 10 tons in the future.