Train, Xi'an

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Xi'an North Railway Station is a new and modern railway station, look similar to Tianjin Railway Station or Suzhou Railway Station. This square and modern building is the railway station for passengers to catch the speed rails to Luoyang, Wenzhou, Huanshan, Beijing and etc. It is fully air-conditioning with shops and restaurants.

You can take the metro to reach this Railway Station, stop at Beikezhan.

Note: You can catch a speed rail to Huanshan from this Railway Station, 1 hour. You can buy train ticket from Xi'an Railway Station too.

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Xi'an Railway Station is main railway station for Xi'an. It is located northeast corner of the city wall. Unfortunately, the metro train does not stop here, but there are many public buses stop and leave here. In fact, it is also a transportation hub for the city as the long distant bus stop and tour buses stations are nearby. You can also find hotels and restaurants nearby Jiefang Road. This is not a great place to hang out as many touts, prostitution, and crowded streets.

I arrived this station at 5:00am from Taiyuan. It was an great experience to see the wall once I came out from the station. The sky was still dark, so I went to the ticket office to purchase my train ticket to my next destination, Luoyang. You can buy the speed rail ticket on a special counter here, the queue was shorter.

Good news is there is only 1 train station in town!!!

We took an overnight train to Chengdu. K879 – leaves Xian 17:20pm and arrives Chengdu 11:20am (842kms) – travel time = 17:50 fastest = $50 approx for soft sleeper –from 302 RMB p/p. Refer to my Beijing page for train travel and difficulty in obtaining train tickets.

We secured two first class sleepers (for the girls) on the Xi'an to Chengdu trip but a hard sleeper for my husband, triple bunks which were surrounded by locals - they proved to be extremely friendly and wanted to share their food and drinks with him!!! Nice.

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A very inexpensive way of traveling throughout China is to catch the overnight train services.
The ticket from Shanghai to Xian was approx 50 Yuan (US$8.00 in July 2008) and represented the transport and accommodation costs.

The trip took 16 hours, the compartments sleep 6, the beds are very comfortable and the trip proved to be hassle free. (For the cheap cost of the ticket you can always book out the entire compartment!!)

When you choose to take the overnight train I would suggest packing food and drinks for both dinner and breakfast. (And perhaps a few snacks.)
Anne and I took 5 overnight trains in China and we chose to either eat with the “locals” in the dining car or to purchase fresh fruit, drinks or pre cooked meals from the “snack” trolley that comes along at regular intervals.
We found that eating in the dining car was fun as we laughed and joked with the locals, drank beers and played cards.

Unless you speak Mandarin, China can be a challenge! We did not speak Mandarin and we got by, but be prepared.

The train station we used twice; once upon entering the city and again on departing. Tickets to foreigners are usually more than what the Chinese people pay. You can usually only buy from a particular booth too.

Beijing to Xi'an was approx 13 hours and Xi'an to Chengdu was about the same again if I remember correctly. The train station is busy; keep a tight hold on your ticket and when you go into the station there is a conveyor belt for luggage checks, much like what you get at the airport.

Trains in standard sleeper class were always fine. Sometimes a little smoky, but fine.
Some hostels will book your tickets for you, so that you don't have to visit the train station until you leave; of course this will cost a few yuan extra.

There is always hot water available on the trains in flasks. In this case all you need to bring are noodles in tubs to eat - everyone does this.

We took the overnight Z train from Beijing to Xi'an. OUr wonderful guide, Alvin bought us the tickets before we arrived in China, and they cost 417 RMB for soft sleeper bottom bunk.
I think if you are not worried about which day you travel you can buy them yourself,or get your hotel to reserve them when you reach Beijing.
It was really easy to find the right platform and everything, and the compartment was clean and comfortable. We should have bought some food before we boarded the train, though because the food was lousy and expensive.
The little disposable slippers were cute.
If you want to see what the train looks like, check out the man in seat sixty- one .His website has all the pix of all the major trains.

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Managed to booked 5 soft sleepers on the train from Xi'an to Beijing. My wife shared rooms with 3 ladies while me and kids take a whole compartment with 4 soft sleepers.

This new train is an all soft sleepers at 417RMB for lower level and 408RMB for upper level. No hard sleepers, soft seats or hard seats.

Available on the same train in a single carriage, is the Executive Soft Sleeper with 2 soft sleeper with attached toilet and a sofa. Price about 700RMB.

The journey was very smooth and the toilet was clean.

Each soft sleeper comes complete with a LCD TV. i.e. 4 LCD per compartment.

Best to book the tickets 2 days in advance.

Train Station is on the north side of the City wall and next to the Bus Station. Taxi fare to the Train Station should be in the region of 6-10RMB (pending distance). 6RMB is departing from North Main Street.

Train departs about 7:30pm and getting a cab at about 5:00pm (during office rush hours) is a problem. Advised from locals - catch a cab from the north bound traffic on the North Main Street if you are staying in the vicinity of the Bell Tower.

From Xi'an

1.Get on public bus No.307 on Railway Station Square, paying for the ticket after getting on the bus. Once a day in the morning, around 8:00, please check the timetable because I'm not sure if it changes.

2. Take train from Railway Station, you have many choices.

From Lintong (After you finish visiting the Terracotta Army)

3.If you finish visiting the Terracotta Army, you can contiune to head to Huashan Mountain. From 10 am to 10 pm, there are 14 train via Lintong to Huangshang Mountain. The price is 8~16 yuan, and it just takes you within 1.5 hours to get there.