Author:George Liu, Tai Te (Last Modified: 2007-05-21 16:37:35.0)
Beijing has two main railway stations: Beijing Railway Station and Beijing West Railway Station. Both have left-luggage facilities, ATMs, tourist information, shops and restaurants.
Beijing Railway Station (北京站)
Beijing Railway Station mainly handles traffic from the north-east, inner mongolia and eastern coastal China.
It is conveniently located near the center of the city. Numerous bus lines pass through Beijing Railway Station. It also sits right next to subway line 2. It’s fairly easy to take baggage onto the Subway because the train doors are flat and wide. Some Subway exits have escalators.
The location to get a taxi is just next to the subway. You can see people lining up to get into taxi and the taxis are well-organized so you can definitely get a legitimate taxi with a meter and standard rate. Do not believe the drivers who chase you and try to persuade you to go with them because they are illegal taxis without meters and they will charge you above normal rates.
The station was built in 1901 but was renovated not long ago. The ticket room is spacious and well ventilated and the layout of the station is very convenient. The inside of the 2nd floor is clean, with a high roof.
The signs that help get around the station are labeled in English but signs that display ticket prices or availability are not in English. This means it may be hard for a person that doesn’t speak any Chinese to get a ticket.
Beijing West Station handles traffic from south and west China. The well-known Jingjiu Railway, or Beijing-Kowloon Railway line, begins from this railway station.
This station is located in the west of Beijing. It can handle 300,000 passsengers daily!
There is not yet a subway station that connects to this station but it is planned for the future.
Beijing South Railway Station (北京南站)
Beijing’s southern railway station will close in mid-May when work begins to turn it into a terminus serving high-speed trains.
