Snapshot

A waiting game in Mongolia

Buyankhuu is the rail station controller in Emeelt, a small village 18 miles west of the capital,

Ulaanbaatar. The village is home to a tiny population of Mongolians who live in Western-style houses as well as nomadic gers (portable tents). The station itself is approached down a rough dirt track, and inside little has changed since the 1970s, including the mint-green waiting room with its plastic seats. She told me that she completed a 45-day railway station controller course when she finished school and has worked for Mongolian Railways since 1995. On the day I met her, she had her hands full with some rather unusual controller duties — including keeping a bunch of wildly drunk Mongolians off the train tracks.

SIMON URWIN // PHOTOGRAPHER simonurwin.com @simonurwinphoto