Vossloh Fastening Systems GmbH, of Germany, has won a contract from Samsung C&T Engineering and Construction Mongolia to supply its MNG 30 fastening system for a new heavy-haul railway line in the landlocked central Asian country. The first consignment of fasteners, which will be manufactured in Werdohl, will be shipped by the end of the month, according to Vossloh; the contract will be completed in the first half of 2015. The MNG fasteners are a modification of the firm’s W30HH type, used with concrete sleepers on ballasted tracks.

Vossloh says that the MNG 30s are suited for handling the coal shipments on the line, which will run from mines at Tavan Tolgoi to Gashun Sukhait on the Chinese border. They have also been adapted to cope with Mongolia’s harsh climate and the challenging soil conditions on the line, which runs through the Gobi desert.

Mongolian State Railways (MTZ) says that it expects freight traffic to almost double on its 1,815km network by 2020, after volumes reached record levels in 2013. MTZ carried 21 million tonnes of freight last year; it forecasts that volumes will increase to 34 million tonnes next year and reach 45 million tonnes in 2020. MTZ is a joint venture between Russian Railways and the Mongolian government. The company was created in 2008 under reforms that aimed to bring private-sector investment to the country’s railways.