There are six railway stations for passenger transport, but Beijing has two major railway stations: Beijing Railway Station (or the central station) and Beijing West Railway Station.

1. Beijing Railway Station：This is the terminal and departure station for railway lines between Beijing–the Northeast, Beijing–Shanghai, Beijing–Baotou, and Beijing–Shandong and international destinations;

2. Beijing West Railway Station: This is the terminal and departure station for railway lines between Beijing–Kowloon, Beijing–Guangzhou and Longhai Line;

3. Yongdingmen (South) Railway Station: This is a station for non-express trains;

4. Xizhimen (North) Railway Station: This is a station for short distance trains traveling to the outlying areas of Beijing;

5. Beijing East Railway Station: This is a station for only 5 short distance trains temporary;

6. Fengtai Railway Station: This is a accessorial station.

Beijing is a railway hub of the People's Republic of China. The following eight major intra-national railways radiate out of Beijing:
* Jingguang Railway, to Guangzhou, Guangdong
* Jinghu Railway, to Shanghai
* Jingha Railway, to Harbin, Heilongjiang
* Jingbao Railway, to Baotou, Inner Mongolia
* Jingyuan Railway, to Taiyuan, Shanxi
* Jingcheng Railway, to Chengde, Hebei
* Jingqin Railway, to Qinhuangdao, Hebei
* Jingjiu Railway, to Kowloon, Hong Kong

(Note: Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China. To cross the internal border between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, passengers have to go through immigration and customs checks.)

International trains leave from Beijing: * to cities in Russia
* to cities in Mongolia
* to Pyongyang, North Korea (DPRK)
* to Hanoi, Vietnam

For train tickets reservation : please see our train tickets reservation page.
You may access the capitals and major cities of all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions except Taiwan from Beijing. It is necessary to remind you that tickets are always sold out during the festivals, summer and winter vacations and tourist seasons. The first thing you should do after arrival in Beijing is to make sure your tickets are ready, so as not to affect your schedule. 

The trains in China are classified and named according to their speed and comfort, for example:

Prefix code	D	Z	T	K	N	L	Only Number
Chinese meaning	Dongche	Zhida	Tebie Kuaiche	Kuaiche	Neibu Kuaiche	Linshi	Putong
Meaning of Tapes	CRH ( China Railway High -speed)	Express trains with high speed and arrive directly.	Express trains with high speed	Express trains	Intra -bureau trains	Temporary train (opens on holidays)	Common trains
Stop	Non -stop	Non -stop	stop at big city	stop at certain city	Many stops	uncertain	Stop more small cities
Exe	D35	Z1	T55	K116	N235	L235	2141
Confort
speed
Restaurant
cleanliness
Remark	Only hard & soft seats	It only runs between certain cities.				Only for the festivals and the details depend on the distances.

The Chinese trains are characterized by four types. The hard seats (yingzuo), with the very stiff material, are often taken crowd. The hard berths (yingwo) are distributed on three levels in a compartment of 6 places. The soft seats (ruanzuo), with broad and comfortable benches. Lastly, the soft berths (ruanwo) are the most pleasant places to spend one night in a Chinese train. Their compartments are only 4 places.

Soft-sleeper: carriages are divided into separate compartments and each compartment has two lower and two upper berths. Sheets and blankets are provided and they are generally of good standard. Washrooms and toilets are located at both ends of the compartment. Soft sleeper always costs twice as much as hard sleeper and almost the same price as flying. Therefore, soft sleeper tickets are more easily available.

Hard Sleeper: The hard-sleeper carriage contains six beds in three tiers. Sheets, pillows and blankets are provided and it somewhat resembles a budget hotel. Comparing with the soft-sleeper, hard-sleeper is less comfortable, the price is also lower than that of the soft-sleeper. Competition for hard-sleepers has become fierce in recent years, so if you get one, you are very lucky.

Soft Seats: These seats are more expensive than those of the hard seat but are very comfortable; your legs can enjoy more room. The carriages are less crowded than the hard-seat carriages.

Hard Seats: Contrary to the soft ones, those seats are upholstered. These are the less expensive ones. These seats tend to be crowded and are not always very clean.