Nalaikh District
Налайх дүүрэг ᠨᠠᠯᠠᠶᠢᠬᠤᠲᠡᠭᠦᠷᠭᠡ | |
|---|---|
 Former coal mine in Nalaikh, 2009 | |
| Coordinates: 47°46′21″N 107°15′13″E / 47.77250°N 107.25361°E | |
| Country | Mongolia |
| Municipality | Ulaanbaatar |
| Area | |
| • Total | 687.6 km2 (265.5 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,459 m (4,787 ft) |
| Population (2022) | |
| • Total | 39,579 |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (UTC + 8) |
| Area code | +976 (0) 23 |
| Vehicle registration | НА_ (_ variable) |
Nalaikh (Mongolian: Налайх) is one of nine districts (düüreg) of the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. It has an area of 68,700 hectares and a population of 39,579 in 2022[1] (26,529 in 2005). A former coal-mining town, it is subdivided into 8 subdistricts (khoroo) incorporating Shokhoi, Arjanchivlan, Terelj holiday center, and other residential areas, as well as a former Soviet military cantonment, including an airfield.[2]
Nalaikh is linked to Ulaanbaatar by a 43-kilometer narrow-gauge railway line, built in July 1938. The line had three stations (Nalaikh; Amgalan, a Ulaanbaatar suburb; and Kombinat, the city's industrial combine) and operated 14 steam locomotives, 16 passenger carriages, 70 goods wagons, 10 platform wagons, and nine fuel tank wagons. Nalaikh now has a broad-gauge branch line (via Khonkhor) to the Trans-Mongolian Railway. The Kapitalnaya shaft went into operation in 1951, and at full capacity produced 600,000 metric tons of coal a year. Nalaikh gained town status in 1962, and was established as a district of Ulaanbaatar in 1992. Since the closure of the coal mine in the 1990s, the town has had a high rate of unemployment.[2]
