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| Home > City Guide - Beijing - Getting There By Rail | ||
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Getting There By Rail The national railway service within China, which is operated by the Ministry of Railways, has developed rapidly and is very extensive. Beijing has two main railway stations. Beijing Railway Station (tel: (10) 5101 9999) serves routes to the north and east of the city and Beijing West Railway Station (tel: (10) 5182 7188), the newer and much larger station, is for journeys to the south and west. Other stations in Beijing serve the suburban routes. Both main stations have left-luggage facilities, ATMs, tourist information, shops and restaurants. All Chinese express trains have four different classes – soft sleeper, soft seat, hard sleeper and hard seat. Tickets can be bought at the foreigners’ booking office in each station; passports are required to make the purchase. Reservations, especially for sleepers, should be made two or three days in advance. Rail services: Trans-Manchurian services to Moscow (journey time – six days) and Trans-Mongolian trains to Ulan Bator and Moscow (journey time – five days) leave from Beijing Railway Station, as do trains to Pyongyang in North Korea (journey time – 25 hours). Trains to Hong Kong (journey time – 27 hours) and Vietnam (journey time – 43 hours) leave from Beijing West Station. Tickets for these routes should be bought through China International Travel Service (CITS) (tel: (10) 6601 1122) or the International Train Booking Office at the Beijing International Hotel, Jianguomennai Dajie (tel: (10) 6512 6688). The main railway stations for domestic journeys are Beijing Houche Zhan and Beijing West. Journey times for domestic services to Beijing are: Harbin – 14 hours; Shanghai – 15 hours; Xian – 15 hours; Guangzhou – 24 hours. Transport to the city: Beijing Railway Station is on the subway (Beijing Zhan station) and Beijing West is about 15 minutes’ walk from Junshi Bowuguan subway station. Alternatively, several buses run from Beijing West station to the centre of Beijing. |
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