A member of staff at Hohhot East railway station transports parcels to be loaded on a bullet train, on Oct 31. [Photo/Inner Mongolia Daily]

Hohhot, capital of North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, launched a high-speed rail freight train service for e-commerce goods -- with the first bullet train carrying 500 kilograms of beef, mutton and dairy products departing the city on Oct 31, bound for Beijing.

Rail officials said it's the latest measure launched by the China Railway Hohhot Group Co. The rail operator is moving to fully exploit the advantages of the HSR network in meeting the dramatically increasing demand for its logistics services, in the runup to the Nov 11 shopping spree.

Consumers in Beijing and North China's Shanxi province can now receive express parcels sent from Inner Mongolia on the same day.

In order to meet the needs of the market, this year's Nov 11 e-commerce golden week transportation period will be from Nov 1 to Nov 20, in response to the growing freight volumes this year.

Also, new e-commerce products such as cold-chain food, agricultural products and pharmaceuticals are being launched to satisfy growing demand -- and the freight service is expected to be heavily involved transporting them.

In order to ensure the safe transportation of the e-commerce cargo, railway officials have set up special channels for express parcels, equipped with security inspection equipment and security personnel.