Beijing to Xi'an train: high-speed train or overnight train?

Beijing to Xi'an train: high-speed or overnight?

Take a G high-speed train for the shortest trip. Take a sleeper train if you want to travel overnight.

On the 12306 English site, read on 5 October 2026 for travel on 14 October 2026, G trains from Beijing West (北京西) to Xi'an North (西安北) took 4h10m to 5h58m. Z, T and sleeper D trains took 11h45m to 13h17m. A hard sleeper on Z179 and T55 cost ¥254.5; a second-class seat on those Beijing West G trains was listed at ¥494 to ¥587, every fare with a discount label (5% to 20% off).

Every train, time and fare on this page comes from that one search, which showed 43 results. K545 appears four times because it has two boarding stations and two arrival stations. Fares change with the travel date, so read them as a range for one day. Every G fare and every seat fare on the three D trains from Qinghe carried a discount label such as ‘15% off’. 12306 shows discounted prices for those trains, so the full fares are higher; the listed fares change with the train and the date. Fares on the sleeper and other overnight trains (seats and upper berths) and on K507 carried no label.

Which Beijing station, and which Xi'an station?

The search lists five departure stations: Beijing West (北京西), Beijing Fengtai (北京丰台), Beijing North (北京北), Qinghe (清河) and Beijing (北京), which only K545 uses. A Beijing government English page says that from 5 January 2025 trains from Beijing North and Qinghe also run to central and western cities such as Xi'an. To choose between stations, see Beijing railway stations.

Read the arrival station on the result line before you pay. The English site spells the Xi'an stations Xianbei, Xian and Xiandong.

• Xi'an North (西安北, Xianbei): most G trains, plus D965, D967, D1049, D1045 and D1043.
• Xi'an station (西安, Xian): G655, G659, G665, Z179, T55, D101, D29, D39, D41, D43, D19, and one of K545's two arrival options.
• Xi'an East (西安东, Xiandong): K507, D15, D117, and K545's other arrival option.

How long does the train take, and how much is the ticket?

Daytime trains on 14 October 2026. Fares run second class, first class, business class. Every fare in this table carried a discount label (5% to 20% off), so these are discounted prices.

Across all G trains that day, second-class seats ran from ¥470 to ¥587, first-class seats from ¥754 to ¥939 and business-class seats from ¥1,543 to ¥1,945. All of these G fares carried discount labels: 5% to 20% off for second and first class, 8% to 25% off for business class. G departures ran from 06:38 to 19:00, and all arrived the same day. The three D trains from Qinghe (D1049, D1045, D1043) took 6h51m to 8h17m, with second-class seats at ¥405 to ¥438 (labelled 10% to 17% off). K507 is a slower daytime train: it leaves Beijing West at 07:12, arrives at Xi'an East at 23:00 (15h48m), and sells a hard seat at ¥152.5, hard sleeper at ¥261.5 and soft sleeper at ¥409.5.

Sleeper and overnight trains on the same date.

The 12306 result ends with this note: ‘The sleeper ticket prices shown on the page are all for upper berth. The actual prices vary among different berths.’ Eight sleeper D trains are in the result (D101, D29, D39, D43, D19, D41, D15, D117). Their first-class sleepers cost ¥422 to ¥496 and their second-class sleepers ¥300 to ¥373.

Overnight train or high-speed train: which one?

• G trains: 4h10m to 5h58m from Beijing West to Xi'an North, second-class seat from ¥494 (a discounted fare; the full fare is higher).
• Sleeper trains (Z, T, sleeper D): 11h45m to 13h17m. They leave between 12:50 and 20:41 and arrive between 01:16 and 08:46 the next day.

We'd book a G train for most trips: the shortest sleeper journey in the result is 11h45m. Choose a sleeper if overnight timing fits your plan. If you'd rather not set up a 12306 account, we can book the train for you.

How to buy a Beijing to Xi'an train ticket on 12306 with a foreign passport

Book on 12306. The 12306 English FAQ says www.12306.cn is the official site and that the railway department will not handle ticketing problems from other websites. The English site accepts only valid foreign passports.

1. Register. The English registration page says only foreign passports are accepted. The form asks for nationality, name, passport number, passport expiration date, date of birth, gender, username, password and email address. It has no phone-number field, and notifications go to your email.
2. Verify your identity. A Ministry of Commerce guide (2024-04-24) says foreign travelers must verify before buying. Fill in name, nationality and ID number on the English site or app and the system checks automatically. You can also upload a photo of the passport information page for manual checking, or take the passport to a station ticket office. The Chinese 12306 notice says accounts marked 待核验 (pending) or 未通过 (not passed) cannot buy tickets.
3. Search and choose. Enter Beijing and Xi'an, pick the date and read both stations on the line.
4. Pay. The guide says you can pay online ‘by Chinese or foreign bank cards as well as mobile payment apps’. It doesn't list which cards or apps, and says to follow the signage or cashier for specifics.

The English FAQ gives ticket sales and endorsement hours of 5:00 to 1:00 the next day (5:00 to 23:30 on Tuesday). Queries and refunds run 24 hours a day.

At a station ticket office you can use a passport and pay by Chinese or foreign bank cards, RMB cash or mobile payment apps. For station self-service machines, the Chinese rules and a Beijing government ticket-buying page list the Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card for foreigners, not a foreign passport.

How many days ahead can you buy?

A 12306 help answer says internet presale is 15 days including the day of purchase, sold at staggered times by region, and that railway bureaus may adjust it temporarily. On 5 October 2026 the date bar on the English site ran from Oct 5 to Oct 19, which is 15 days. Check the date bar when you book.

The Beijing government ticket-buying page adds that the Railway 12306 app shows the exact release time at the bottom of the screen once you pick a departure date, and ‘Set Reminder’ (设置提醒) adds an alert to your phone calendar.

Gates and boarding: can you use the automatic gates with a passport?

The Ministry of Commerce transportation guide and the 12306 English FAQ don't say whether a passport can be scanned at an automatic gate. The Ministry of Commerce guide says: ‘Foreign travelers can enter and exit the railway station through automatic or manual ticket check gates with the original valid identification documents used when buying tickets, and cooperate to complete ticket verification on the way.’

• Carry the passport you used to buy. The railway rules in force from 1 June 2026 make that ID your proof for the ride and treat a ticket, ID and person that do not match as no ticket. A no-ticket rider who does not proactively arrange a supplementary ticket pays the fare for the section ridden plus 50% of it.
• All passengers and belongings go through a security check. The FAQ warns of queues at security, the ID verification counter and the ticket gate, and asks you to reserve enough time.
• Ticket sales and checking stop before departure. The FAQ sends you to the station announcement for the time.

Can you use the itinerary sheet as your ticket? Refunds and changes

No. After buying on 12306 you can print or download an ‘itinerary sheet’, but the FAQ says: ‘Neither “itinerary sheet” nor reimbursement receipt can be used as tickets.’ The Chinese railway rules say the same of the 行程信息提示. The e-ticket is the ticket, and you show the passport used to buy it. A ticket is valid only for the day and train printed on it.

On the English site you can endorse (change) a ticket, refund it and change the destination. The Ministry guide says service fees may apply depending on timing. For the tiers, see 12306 refund and change fees.

More for the trip: the Beijing travel guide, the Xi'an travel guide, and how to book Terracotta Army tickets.