Aerial photo taken on April 11, 2020 shows a logistic station of the Erenhot Port in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Photo: Xinhua

A cargo train loaded with more than 3,000 tons of architectural materials and general goods departed on Tuesday from Ulanqab city, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and will head to Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia, marking the first China-Mongolia cargo train since the launch of a new "railway express" service featuring rapid customs clearance, according to a statement that Customs of Jining in Ulanqab city sent to the Global Times on Tuesday. It comes as China and Mongolia aim to ramp up transportation capacity and boost trade.

China and Mongolia's bilateral trade has seen significant growth, and it accounted for more than 60 percent of Mongolia's total foreign trade volume in the first half of the year. The two countries want to increase the transportation capacity of the cross-border train services to cater to the growing trade activities.

The railway express service uses digital and paperless administration, allowing customs to conduct inspections of the cargo goods online while simplifying the application procedures.

The system can cut the customs clearance process by 24 hours and save more than 200 yuan ($28) per container, Jining Customs said.

"After we opened the first railway express outbound train in the autonomous region, the logistics time was further shortened and the cost was further reduced. Our customers said that they all want to use the new service to get their goods delivered more quickly," said Wang Shengyuan, the general manager of a trade company in Ulanqab.

"It is one of our important tasks to implement the measures to promote foreign trade and to ensure the smooth operation of the railway express train," said Bao Huiquan, head of Jining Customs.

To this end, Jining Customs has established a special guarantee team to work 24 hours a day and seven days a week for custom clearance, while cooperating with port customs to sort out and refine regulations for the new business model, Bao said.

Hohhot Customs will continue to improve the railway customs clearance, explore and expand the applicable coverage of the railway express and promote efficient international logistics in the central and western regions, it said.