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Rail

The national railway service within China, which is operated by the Ministry of Railways, has developed rapidly and is very extensive. Train travel is the most used method of transport throughout China. Beijing has two main railway stations. Beijing Railway Station (tel: (10) 63 21 11 14) serves routes to the north and east of the city and Beijing West Railway Station (tel: (10) 63 21 71 88), the newer and much larger station, 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 restaurant. 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 and reservations, especially for sleepers, should be made two or three days in advance.

Rail services:
Trans-Siberian and Trans-Mongolian trains leave from Beijing Railway Station as do trains to Pyongyang in North Korea. Tickets for these routes should be bought through the China International Travel Service (CITS) (tel: (10) 66 01 11 22) or through China Travel Service (CTS) (tel: (10) 64 62 22 88; fax: (10) 64 61 25 56). Visitors who plan to travel to Mongolia, Russia or North Korea should book tickets and apply for visas before leaving the UK as this process takes at least ten days in Beijing.

Transport to the city:
Beijing Railway Station is on the subway and Beijing West is close to Muxidi subway station.



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