| Erenhot | |||||||||||
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| Manual Bogie change in the train station of Erenhot | |||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 二连浩特 | ||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 二連浩特 | ||||||||||
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| Mongolian name | |||||||||||
| Mongolian | In China － (Eriyen hota) In Mongolia － Эрээн хот (Ereen khot) |
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Erenhot (usually shortened into Eriyen, Ereen; Mongolian: , Эрээн хот; Chinese: 二连浩特; pinyin: èrliánhàotè) is a city located in the Gobi Desert, in the Xilin Gol league of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It has 16,330 inhabitants (estimated 2006) and the elevation is 966 metres (3,169 ft). The city is located on the border with Mongolia and a big rainbow arch marks the road border crossing just outside of town.
The town across the Mongolian border is Zamyn-Üüd.
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Erenhot is a stop on the Trans-Mongolian Railway. International trains change bogies in here, because of the break-of-gauge between China and Mongolia. China uses the standard gauge, while Mongolia uses the Russian 1520 mm gauge. The town is also the northern terminus of China National Highway 208, Erenhot - Changzhi. The city profits a lot from cross-border trade with Mongolia. Most small-scale traders cross the border by car and board the trains in Zamyn-Üüd.
The manual bogie exchange is to be supplemented with the faster, automatic Variable gauge axle system of the SUW 2000 type made by ZNTK.
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| Dinosaur "gate" | |
The area around the town, especially a salt lake known to paleontologists as Iren dabasu or Iren nor (Mongolian: Ereen = Colourful, davs = salt, nuur = lake) to the east, is known for the discovery of a number of different dinosaurs. The city houses a dinosaur museum, and in 2006 a big arch in form of two Sauropoda was built on the highway southward. In 2007, a number of smaller figures of different species were added.
Erenhot experiences a cold desert climate (Köppen BWk) with long, very dry, and bitter winters and short, hot summers. Monthly daily average temperatures range from −18.1 °C (−0.6 °F) in January to 23.3 °C (73.9 °F) in July, with an annual mean of 4.0 °C (39.2 °F). Clear, sunny, and dry weather generally dominates year-round, and due to the aridity, differences between daytime and night temperatures are often large.
| Climate data for Erenhot (1971−2000) | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | −10.5 (13.1) |
−5 (23) |
4.4 (39.9) |
14.6 (58.3) |
22.5 (72.5) |
27.7 (81.9) |
29.9 (85.8) |
27.7 (81.9) |
21.4 (70.5) |
12.7 (54.9) |
1.3 (34.3) |
−7.9 (17.8) |
11.6 (52.9) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −23.7 (−10.7) |
−20 (−4) |
−11 (12.2) |
−1.4 (29.5) |
6.6 (43.9) |
12.8 (55.0) |
16.6 (61.9) |
14.6 (58.3) |
7.3 (45.1) |
−1.7 (28.9) |
−11.8 (10.8) |
−20.2 (−4.4) |
−2.7 (27.1) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 1.2 (0.047) |
1.0 (0.039) |
2.5 (0.098) |
4.5 (0.177) |
7.8 (0.307) |
19.2 (0.756) |
37.0 (1.457) |
40.1 (1.579) |
17.2 (0.677) |
8.1 (0.319) |
2.6 (0.102) |
1.1 (0.043) |
142.3 (5.602) |
| % humidity | 69 | 61 | 43 | 29 | 30 | 38 | 47 | 51 | 46 | 45 | 57 | 68 | 48.7 |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 1.7 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 4.1 | 6.8 | 9.0 | 8.8 | 4.5 | 2.9 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 48.2 |
| Sunshine hours | 221.0 | 228.6 | 281.4 | 293.0 | 323.6 | 324.4 | 310.7 | 294.0 | 279.0 | 255.3 | 216.3 | 205.0 | 3,232.3 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration | |||||||||||||
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