Entering China by rail from Europe or Asia   
Trans Siberian Express

No other train in the world can create the same mystique generated by the Trans-Siberian Express, the world's longest running railway and one of the world's great journeys. Stretching almost 8000 kilometers and 6 time zones from Moscow to Beijing, the very name of this engineering marvel evokes images of exotic, adventurous travel...

Click to enlarge map! Moscow-Beijing, Beijing-Moscow via Mongolia
The weekly Chinese train (K4 Eastbound) leaves Moscow at 22:03 every Tuesday for Beijing, while the weekly Chinese train (K3 Westbound) leaves Beijing at 7:40 every Wednesday for Moscow. One-way journey takes 5 days and 11 hours more. It uses Chinese rolling stock, replaced in 1990, and cuts across Outer Mongolia and the Gobi desert. First class 2- and 4-berth, and second class 4-berth, all very comfortable. First class fares from around CAD 750, second class fares from around CAD 600. This is arguably the most interesting route.

Moscow-Beijing, Beijing-Moscow via Manchuria:
The weekly Russian e train (K20 Eastbound) leaves Moscow at 23:58 every Friday for Beijing, while the weekly Russian train (K19 Westbound) leaves Beijing at 22:50 every Saturday for Moscow. One-way journey takes 6 days. 2-berth 1st class, 4-berth 2nd class on the train. Prices similar to those of the Chinese train.

What do you do on a train for six or seven days?
You read, watch the scenery, go to meals, sleep, meet people, talk, look for sights such as the obelisk marking the boundary between Europe and Asia (1,777km from Moscow), play chess, drink tea, get off at station stops and take photographs....
Remember that you don't have to do the Trans-Siberian trip in one go. You can stop off for a day or more at any place such as Irkutsk. There are many more trains along the Trans-Siberian Railway, linking intermediate stops.

LOCAL TIME ZONES

The local time zones along the Trans Siberian railway are ahead of Moscow time as follows:

 Omsk, Novosibirsk + 3 hours
  Krasnoyarsk + 4 hours
  Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Ulaanbaatar, Beijing + 5 hours
  Khabarovsk, Vladivostok + 7 hours


TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY EASTBOUND

Russia - Mongolia - China

TRAIN NO.

Departure day

N 4 

Tue

N 6 

Thu, Fri

N 264 

Daily

N 20 

Fri

N 10 

Odd days

N 2 

Odd days

N 24 

Tue,Thu

Moscow

1/ 22:03

1/ 22:03

-

1/ 23:58

1/ 23:30

1/ 17:16

-

Vladimir

2/01:03 

2/01:03 

-

2/03:00 

2/02:27

1/20:15

Ekaterinburg

3/23:55 

3/23:55 

-

3/01:46 

3/01:38

3/18:53

-

Novosibirsk

3/19:35

3/19:35

-

3/21:47 

3/21:35

3/15:19

-

Krasnoyarsk

 4/07:20

4/07:20

-

 4/09:36

4/09:23

4/03:48

-

Irkutsk

5/01:22

5/01:22 

1/15:27

5/03:31 

5/04:06 

5/22:13

-

Ulan-Ude

5/08:43

5/08:43

2/00:52

5/10:52

-

5/05:43

-

Khabarovsk

-

-

-

-

-

7/10:15

-

Vladivostok

-

-

-

-

-

7/22:35

Ulaanbataar

6/07:20 

6/07:20

3/05:53

 -

-

-

   1/07:50
Beijing

7/14:31

-

-

7/05:20

-

-

 2/14:31


TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY WESTBOUND
China - Mongolia - Russia

TRAIN No.

Departure day

N 3 

Wed

N 5 

Sun, Mon

N 263 

Daily

N 19 

Sat

N 9 

Even days

N 1 

Even days

N 23 

Thu,Sat

Beijing

1/ 07:40 

-

-

1/ 22:50

-

-

1/  07:40

Ulaanbataar

2/ 13:50

1/ 13:50

1/ 21:20

-

-

-

2/ 13:20

Vladivostok

-

-

-

-

-

1/ 10:30

-

Khabarovsk

-

-

-

-

-

1/ 23:53

-

Ulan-Ude

3/ 02:00

1/ 02:00

-

3/ 05:47

-

4/ 03:00

-

Irkutsk

3/ 09:16

2/ 09:16

3/ 03:46

3/ 13:03

1/ 11:25

4/ 10:16

-

Krasnoyarsk

4/ 03:32

3/ 03:21

-

4/ 07:00

2/ 05:48

5/ 04:55

-

Novosibirsk

4/ 15:45

3/ 15:45

-

4/ 19:14

2/ 18:96

5/ 17:28 

-

Ekaterinburg

5/ 23:55

4/ 23:13

-

5/ 15:04

2/ 14:08

6/ 13:36

-

Vladimir

 6/01:03

 6/14:21     3/18:22    6/13:12  
Moscow

7/14:19

6/ 14:19

-

7/ 17:55

4/ 16:52

7/ 16:42

 

  Back to Entering China by Rail



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