Ban on wooden railway sleepers saves forest

23 May 2013

A ban on wooden railway sleepers in Mongolia has been implemented, and will not be allowed on the railway for at least five years. It has been decided to replace wooden railway sleepers with concrete ones, OR to import railway sleeper wood from Russia if necessary.

Mongolia established a plant for the construction of concrete railway sleepers using Chinese technology and standards in Khutul in 1997 and modernized it with Russian technology in 2006. The plant has a capacity of producing 216,000 concrete railway sleepers a year. Concrete railway sleepers can be used for 25-35 years. The concrete plant in Khutul produces HF-5 600 brand concrete railway sleepers. One concrete sleeper weighs 290 kg. The ban on railway sleeper wood will be executed from June 1st. It is hoped that 25,000 cubic meters of Mongolian trees can be saved from lumber for railway sleepers.