The Ulaanbaatar railway, whose capacity has reached its peak, plans to invest over $1.1 billion by 2030 for modernization and renovation, which is five times the investment amount in the past seven years, in order to cope with the growth of cargo flow in the China-Russia-Mongolia cross-border corridor.

The railway has an annual design capacity of 33 million tons, with the southern section already highly saturated. In 2025, the transit cargo volume approached 6 million tons, nearly doubling compared to 2022. In July 2026, the Eurasian Economic Union and Mongolia's free trade agreement will come into effect, with nearly 89% of Russia's exports to Mongolia being tariff-free, further stimulating cargo flow. However, the Mongolian market has limited space, and the benefits are concentrated in border trade.

As the core trunk line of the China-Russia-Mongolia-Europe cross-border corridor, this renovation aims to achieve a freight volume of 50 million tons by 2030. The funds will be invested in the construction of double tracks, station upgrades, signal system updates, and locomotive procurement. Currently, the fundraising plan is still in progress, and there are long-term shortcomings in the line's freight pricing mechanism. Meanwhile, Russia is upgrading six border ports with Mongolia and Russia.