Mongolia is connected to the Trans-Siberian railway and there are services
to St Petersburg for Northern European destinations and to Novorossiysk
for Mediterranean, Black Sea and Near Eastern destinations.
Transit times are generally faster to Europe using this routing, although bear in mind that single 20' containers may have to wait for a "pair" before they can be loaded on the rail wagon.
Recently there is a "container block train" service between Brest and Ulaanbaatar.
Mongolia is a landlocked country. The containers move in and out, both for import and export, through the port of Xingang, near Tianjin in China. Are used rail or truck services on the Chinese side of the border, and rail services on the Mongolian side. On the Mongolian side are used Mongolian Railways while on the Chinese side can be used either truck or rail services. There are no through trains because Mongolia and China run on different rail gauges, so all containers have to be loaded from one to the other at the border point of Zamyn-Uud (on the Mongolian side).
From Ulaanbaatar, container block trains depart twice weekly, arriving at the border station of Zamyn-Uud 36 hours later. Other general cargo trains leave when cargo is available and may take containers if there is available space. These trains are slower than the block trains as wagons may need to be detached along the route.
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