Designed to cross the Gobi Desert in a corridor of over 1.800 km, the elevated railway on pillars connects the Erenhot border to Mongolia and continues towards Russia, standardizes the gauge, and promises to transport coal, copper, and rare earth elements to Chinese ports without stops at the border.
The Gobi Desert has always been more than just an empty space on the map: it's an extreme environment, with temperatures below -40°C in winter, temperatures above 50°C in summer, and terrain that changes behavior as the ground freezes and thaws. It is in this setting that China plans to build an elevated railway spanning 1.800 km, transforming a natural barrier into a logistics corridor.

The ambition goes beyond engineering. When a project begins to dictate the pace of coal, copper, and rare earth production, it ceases to be merely infrastructure and becomes an instrument of power.especially for a landlocked country, trapped between two neighbors and dependent on routes that are currently hindering its economy.

What makes the Gobi Desert such a challenging challenge for any project?
In the Gobi Desert, the problem isn't just traversing distance. The difficulty begins with the climate and is compounded by the soil: the aggressive temperature variations accelerate material fatigue and increase the likelihood of deformations, cracks, and settlement.

In regions where the terrain is unpredictable, infrastructure must contend with the elements year-round....and the cost of this struggle is evident in constant maintenance and interruptions.

There is also the factor of soil freezing and the associated instability, which can transform a traditional solution into a series of patchwork repairs.

Bridges and roads can suffer when permafrost begins to thaw and then hardens again, creating cycles of expansion and contraction that disrupt alignments and foundations. For a freight corridor, predictability is just as important as speed.

Why raising the tracks changes the logic of crossing the tracks.

Instead of rails resting on the ground, the proposal places the railway on concrete pillars fixed to a more solid base, below the layer that freezes and thaws. With the tracks suspended, the expansion and contraction of the ground no longer dictate the alignment of the line., reducing some of the effects that would destroy a structure at ground level.

This choice also reveals the type of priority for the project: operational continuity. Approximately 60% of the planned route would be elevated, while the remainder would be on the ground where the terrain allows.

The logic is to use long viaducts in the most problematic areas of the Gobi Desert, without turning the entire route into a single rigid solution and, at the same time, without accepting the bottlenecks that the terrain would impose.

The corridor's design: from Erenhot to Mongolia and towards Russia.
The railway corridor begins in Erenhot, on the border with Mongolia, crosses approximately 1.000 km of the Gobi Desert within Mongolian territory, reaches the capital and continues towards Russia, with its destination indicated as the city of Nausqu.

In total, the route covers more than 1.800 km and was designed for high cargo capacity, with an expected operating speed of up to 120 km/h.

In addition to the elevated structure, the project incorporates solutions for harsh weather and operational safety: tunnels with ventilation and heating in colder sections, systems to prevent rail freezing, real-time earthquake monitoring, and engineering adjustments to reduce failures in extreme environments.

The goal is not just to build, but to keep it running regularly.Even when winter becomes a daily test.

Gauge and bottlenecks: the detail that delays weeks and costs a lot.

There is a technical obstacle that, for decades, has acted as a barrier to exports: the gauge, the distance between the rails.

The rail network associated with the Soviet standard does not coincide with the standard gauge used by China. In practice, this forces transshipment: cargo leaves one train and enters another when crossing the border, which consumes time, increases operating costs, and amplifies the risk of queues and delays.

This type of bottleneck doesn't just appear on the clock. It translates into financial costs and loss of competitiveness. A shipment of coal capable of crossing the country in a few days can be stuck for weeks waiting for transfer.

When transportation becomes unpredictable, the exporting country loses bargaining power.Because the buyer prices in risk and demands tougher conditions.

Standardization that changes the flow and shortens the route to the ports.
The railway was designed to use the international standard gauge, aligned with the Chinese standard. This tends to eliminate the need to change trains at the border, allowing cargo to leave the mines in Mongolia and go directly to Chinese ports.

The change seems technical, but it alters the economic landscape: it shortens time, reduces handling, and decreases losses associated with transshipment and waiting.

This standardization also creates a less obvious consequence: it increases the physical integration between Mongolian production and the Chinese industrial chain.

When the route becomes direct, whoever controls the logistics begins to influence the pace of the market.Because it controls the "how much" and the "when" of each batch that arrives for processing and export.

What lies beneath: why coal, copper, and rare earth elements become the focus of the project.
Mongolia holds reserves that are changing the country's importance on the global stage. The Oyu Tolgoi mine in the south is described as the third largest copper mine on the planet. Meanwhile, the Tavan Tolgoi region is associated with approximately 6 billion tons of coal.

In addition, there are significant reserves of rare earth elements, including elements such as neodymium and dysprosium, which are essential for permanent magnets used in electric motors and wind turbines.

Copper, in particular, appears as a key input for electrification: solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles consume large quantities, and projections indicate that global demand for the metal will double by 2035.

In this context, Logistics is not a detail: it's what determines who delivers first, who delivers cheapest, and who sets the standard..

Why would China invest 50 to 80 billion dollars?
The estimated cost of the corridor is between 50 and 80 billion dollars, a level that usually requires clear justification.

The first is economic: transforming a "locked vault" into a continuous export flow, reducing weeks of waiting to hours or a few days of transit.

The second is industrial: to quickly get raw materials to processing, expanding control over value chains.

The third reason is strategic. China already accounts for about 40% of the world's copper processing and dominates approximately 85% of global rare earth processing.

If the corridor shortens the distance between Mongolian reserves and Chinese processing, it reinforces that position. It's not just about buying ore, but about reducing the chance of competitors vying for the route and supply..

The geopolitical component that frightens the West.
The corridor fits into the China-Mongolia-Russia economic axis, associated with the Belt and Road Initiative, and creates the prospect of a direct land link from the Chinese coast to Russian territory.

This tends to reduce dependence on maritime routes and strategic bottlenecks, offering a logistical alternative to the north in a scenario of tensions, sanctions, trade disputes and competition for critical minerals.

For Western countries, the fear is not just the project itself, but the cumulative effect: more distribution capacity, more predictability, more integration and, potentially, more influence on the prices and availability of inputs essential to industry and the energy transition.

When access to critical minerals becomes more concentrated, foreign policy begins to move hand in hand with logistics..

Mongolia between two powers: real opportunity and proportional risk.
Mongolia is the largest landlocked country in the world and is surrounded by two neighbors, Russia to the north and China to the south. Solar Energy Systems

This map already defines part of the destiny: any infrastructure solution increases interdependence with one side, with the other, or with both. Part of society sees in the corridor the chance to break a historical blockade, transforming mineral wealth into development.

At the same time, there is a risk of over-dependency. The country is often described as "a shrimp between two whales," because a decision that excessively favors one side can generate a reaction from the other.

The line can become a corridor of growth or a corridor of influence, depending on who dictates the terms.And this can't be solved with just concrete and railroad tracks.

Debt, concessions, and what contracts decide in the long term.
Concern about the so-called "debt trap" accompanies large projects financed by powerful nations.

The concern is that the partner will accumulate obligations that it cannot pay and, faced with this, will be pressured to grant long-term control over strategic assets.

One example is the case of Sri Lanka, where a 99-year concession was granted for a port after payment difficulties arose.

To mitigate this type of risk, negotiation proposals are emerging: Mongolia's own equity stake in the railway, tariffs defined in the contract, and clauses that prevent the loss of strategic assets in case of default.

Even so, The heart of the story lies in the details: currency, collateral, arbitrage, usage targets, and review mechanisms.That's where works of this magnitude usually gain or lose legitimacy.

The environmental impact on the Gobi Desert and what still needs to be clarified.
The Gobi Desert is home to rare and endangered species, such as the wild bacterial camel and the snow leopard.

An elevated railway can reduce some direct impacts on the soil, but it does not eliminate effects such as noise, vibration, habitat fragmentation, and pressure for auxiliary infrastructure, especially if the project stimulates the opening of new mines and support routes.

There is also criticism that the environmental studies released so far are not sufficient to measure all the risks.

In fragile ecosystems, the "functioning" of the structure is not the only criterion: what matters is how the surrounding region changes.This includes wildlife, migration routes, breeding areas, and human access to previously isolated zones.

2035: What would change in the speed of mining and in global competition?
In the most optimistic scenario, the start of operations is projected for 2035. If the railway delivers on its promises, the time leap would be enormous: coal that currently takes weeks to reach Chinese ports could be transported in less than 48 hours; copper from Oyu Tolgoi could reach foundries in less than a day.

This tends to reduce costs, increase predictability, and put pressure on competitors to seek alternative supply and processing methods.

But the consequence is ambiguous. The route could accelerate the energy transition by facilitating the flow of copper and rare earths, while at the same time boosting coal and mining expansion in the Gobi Desert. Solar Energy Systems

The same path that shortens distances can lengthen dilemmas.Because it places development, sovereignty, the environment, and global competition on the same level.

Ultimately, the question is not only whether the pillars will withstand the Gobi Desert, but whether the agreements will withstand the weight of what will be carried by them.

If you were a citizen of Mongolia, what would you demand in order to support this corridor?

Would you prefer tariffs and equity stakes guaranteed for decades, strict environmental limits with independent oversight, or total priority for rapid growth even at the risk of dependency?

And from the outside, do you see this project as necessary infrastructure or as a piece of control over critical minerals that the whole world needs?

By Maria Heloisa Barbosa Borges

Published Date:2026-02-24