Beijing Rail Transit has a unified billing network that includes most of the lines in the city center and major suburbs.There are currently 25 lines in this system (as of August 2024).You only need to enter the station using the allowed method and settle the fee when leaving the station if you are using a stored value card or mobile app.Alternatively, simply purchase a one-way ticket to the final destination.When taking or transferring to trains on different routes, there is no need to purchase tickets or pay separately on the train or before each ride.The fare paid is the cost of the shortest path between the two stations of entry and exit.Passengers are free to choose the transfer station along the way.If accidentally get off at the wrong station or take the wrong direction, take the correct route again until they reach the destinations.However, it should be noted that each passenger is allowed to stay in the paid area for a maximum of 4 hours per trip.After exceeding 4 hours, an additional fee of 3 RMB should be paid.Except for these routes, other routes require separate payment for each ride, it need to be re charged even transferred from the unified billing system.

Except for the railway connect to the airports, the billing method for all other routes is consistent, and the fees are also the same regardless of the payment method used.3 yuan can travel up to 6 kilometers, 4 yuan can travel up to 12 kilometers, 5 yuan can travel up to 22 kilometers, 6 yuan can travel up to 32 kilometers, 7 yuan can travel up to 52 kilometers, and then every 1 yuan can travel up to 20 kilometers.When arriving at the airport, a separate billing method will be used.You can refer to the detailed information about the arrival railway at the airport later. There are no preferential measures for transfers between the unified billing system and other separately lines.

The fare of ordinary buses in Beijing is unified, its standard is the basic fare of 2 yuan, can take 10 km, then 3 yuan can take 10.01 to 15 km, 4 yuan can take 15.01 to 20 km, and so on, without setting the upper limit, for some very long routes, its fare may have dozens of yuan.You need to swipe your card when you get on and off the bus.There are also special express routes with additional fares, such as routes to popular tourist areas. Unlike Singapore or other places, Beijing and the metropolitan area do not have any additional benefits for rail and bus transfers.

Using Beijing urban railways is a relatively easy task.

One-way tickets can be purchased with cash on all routes. However, the method of buying tickets with cash for each ride is not very recommended, unless the number of rides is very small, and buying a one-way ticket is difficult for outsiders, especially foreigners, because it requires some identity authentication to be able to buy.

If you are not sure where to drop off when you board the train, you may not be able to leave the station smoothly or waste money, using a single ticket. At present, the number of Chinese people who use cash to buy tickets is very small, the automatic ticket machines and manual ticket Windows that can provide services are very limited, and some ticket machines may refuse to pay in cash because there are not enough petty notes stored in the machines to make change for you.

You can use the QR code in Alipay app, which supports mainstream foreign bank cards and pays directly.

If you are using a new iPhone or Apple watch with NFC that you have purchased in recent years, you can get a transportation card in the Wallet app, but you need to have a bank card capable of paying in RMB, because Apple Pay in China can only be paid using Union Pay. Or you can get a card through the SilkPass app, pay for it through the attached bank card in Alipay, and then add the card to Apple Wallet, and once you get the card, you can use it not only in Beijing, but in hundreds of Chinese cities, and recharge it in the SilkPass app by yourself in anywhere.

If you have already exchanged for cash when you arrive in Beijing, or wish to purchase directly with your credit card, you can try to purchase a Beijing Transport Card or BEIJING PASS, at some transport hubs, as they usually provide manual service as well as an adequate number of machines. We recommend that you keep this card because it can be used not only in Beijing, but also in hundreds of cities in China, and it can also be recharged using the SilkPass app. The transportation card you have purchased in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Tianjin or other major cities can also be used in Beijing if it has a "T-Union" symbol.

If you have a debit or credit Card with the China UnionPay logo,  Visa or Master Card, you can pass the ticket gate directly by tapping these cards to take rail transits in Beijing,.

Almost all lines of the Beijing subway in the city center area are underground, and their entrances are usually formed in independent-one-story high buildings above ground level, with signs of the Beijing subway and the lines that this station can take. Some of them may also be connected to surrounding buildings and directly run into their basements. If it is outside the city center, the routes and stations may be more located at or above ground level, but this does not affect your ability to find and reach the stations. If you need to take trains, just find the building with the sign of Beijing subway hanging on it and walk in, and follow the guidance signs hanging or posted inside. In general, you can easily find where to take the train. The rail transit lines in the center of Beijing are usually named after numbers, while some routes to the suburban are named with Chinese characters, although they also have a numerical number.

The line connecting Beijing Capital International Airport to the city center was opened in 2008, covering a distance of 30 km, with a maximum speed of 110 km/h. It only stops at three stations except the airport. The whole journey takes about 26 minutes, and provides about 90 trains a day, with an interval of about 9-15 minutes. Passengers can take any number of trains, all trains are non-reserved seats and passengers are allowed to stand on trains, no real name or seat number is required to take the train, and the ticket price is 25 yuan (about 3.2 euros, 519 yen).

This line fare is higher, if you need a relatively low fare, you can leave the airport at the appropriate location in the terminal to take a bus to the Guozhan station and take the subway line 15, to finally arrive at Beixinqiao Station for example, this only needs to spend ￥8 but the consumption of time may take more than 1.5 hours.

When you go to the airport, you can get off at Beixinqiao Station form Metro Line 5, Line 2 or Line 13 at Dongzhimen Station, or Line 10 or Line 12 at Sanyuanqiao Station, and follow the signs to take the Capital Airport Line.

It should also be noted that when going to the Capital International Airport, you need to get off the train at the appropriate terminal, and please be sure to confirm whether it is correct after getting off, because this trains are not reversal directly at the Capital International Airport, if you are at the wrong station, you may not be able to take the train back. On the way to Beijing Capital International Airport, the train first stop at Terminal 3 station, then changes direction and reach the Terminal 2 station (which also leads to Terminal 1), and then changes direction again return to the downtown.

If you do not get off in time at the Terminal 3 station, you can only take the shuttle bus back when you arrive at the Terminal 2 station, if you do not get off at the Terminal 2 station, the train will go directly to the city center and will not be able to return to the airport, and you must pay the fare for a round trip (￥50) when leaving the station in the city center, and you cannot directly take the reverse train to the airport.

Beijing Daxing International Airport is mainly located in the Guangyang district of Langfang. The rail service connecting Beijing Daxing International Airport to the city center has two lines, both of which opened in 2019.

One of them named Daxing Airport Express is the route operating by Beijing Subway which connecting Lize Business District (this station is not currently open) and Caoqiao transportation hub.  The 42 km route, with a top speed of 160 km/h, the travel time from Daxing airport to Caoqiao Station is only takes 19-20 minutes depending on weather conditions, or up to 30 minutes in case of inclement weather, and provides about 100 services per day.  The interval is about 9-15 minutes, passengers can take any train because of the stop of each trains are same, the train has ordinary seats and business seats, ordinary seats are no-reserved and allow passengers to stand, do not need to be real name or according to the seat number, the ticket price is 35 yuan (about 4.5 euros, 726 yen).  Business seats are reserved, and the ticket price is 50 yuan (about 6.5 euros, 1,038 yen). The Daxing Airport Express Station (大兴机场) is located at the underground (B1) level of the aviation hub. All the signs and the instructions of the ticket machines as well are available in English and there are display screens inside each carriage with all the useful information about the stops, the arrival time etc. Passengers can directly check-in at Caoqiao Station saving a lot of time and hassle. Translation device at the station desk which offers 47 language options as well as some dialect translation possibilities. (Daxing Airport Express Hotline: +86-10-87837266)

The other is the intercity railway operated by China National Railway connecting Beijing West Railway Station and Xiongan New Area or Tianjin, passing through Beijing Daxing International Airport on the way.  The distance between Beijingxi (West) Railway Station and the airport is 47 km, and the top speed is 160 km/h in this section.  There are two kinds of trains: local and express.  The whole journey takes about 28 minutes or about 34 minutes, 17-19 trainss are provided each day, all of them are reserved seats, and require real name authentication, passengers all need to use passports to purchase tickets in advance, ordinary transportation cards can not be used, the train has second class seats, first class seats and business seats.  Fares are 30 yuan, 48 yuan and 90 yuan respectively, but usually (in February 2024) offer a discount of 10-43%, and the second-class fare starts at as low as 17 yuan.  This line is less frequent, but for passengers with more luggage who need to travel to Beijingxi Railway Station to take other trains, they can transfer without leaving the station after arriving at Beijingxi Railway Station. You will find the Daxing airport train station located at -2 floor. The station is connected to the main terminal area by escalators.

In Beijing, going to the wrong airport is a very fatal thing. There is currently no railway service connecting the two airports directly, although it has already started planning and construction. So, if you need to go to the airport, it is important to confirm if the airport is correct. Otherwise, it currently takes at least two hours to travel between the two airports during peak hours, whether by taxi or using railway services, and there are also high costs involved.

The newer Beijing Daxing Airport is located 67km away from Beijing Capital Airport. You can reach Beijing Capital Airport in approximately 90 minutes travelling by car or taxi, depending on the traffic conditions, and the taxi ride will cost you about RMB 250 (€32 / $35.2).

Shuttle buses between Daxing airport to Capital airport.usually need about 100-120 minutes, stations are both in Terminal 2 and 3 of Capital Airport, the ticket price is RMB 55 and it always available every 30 minutes from 7:30am to 11:00pm. Each electric mini-buses which can serve up to 16 passengers but you might wait in line until a seat becomes available when the bus is busy.

There no railway service connect two airports directly. If you wish to use the railway or subway for your transfer, unfortunately you will have to transfer between 3 different lines. the total time will be approximately 110 minutes and RMB 65 need to pay for the whole ride. In the future, the two airports are going to be connected by rail transit service but these options are not available now.

The time mentioned above only includes the time on the way, and the time of leaving and entering the terminals does not calculated, it might including security checks, check-in or checked baggage. At least two hours or more is need when complete the whole process.

There are two railway lines connect to the Badaling Great Wall, one of which is the suburban railway line S2, and the other is the high-speed railway from Beijing to Zhangjiakou. However, the frequency of these two lines is not very much.

Suburban Line S2 departs and arrives at Huangtodian Station, it is connected to the Huoying Station in urban railtransit system, and it can be accessed by Line 8 or Line 13, but it should be noted that urban and suburban rail are charged separately, and you need to leave the station of urban rail and re-enter the station of suburban rail. From Monday to Thursday, the Line S2 runs only three daily trains from the city center to Yanqing, all of which stop at Badaling, while only two return trains stop at Badaling. From Friday to Sunday, there are usually seven trains from the city center to Yanqing, and six trains return pass through Badaling. The train is only allowed to use transit cards including T-Union cards or purchase a ticket at the station, and advance reservations are not accepted. If the train is overcrowded, passengers who cannot board the train will not be allowed to board the train. Because this line has been built for hundreds of years, it will be shut down when there is bad weather.

The high-speed railway to and from Badaling leaves and arrives from Qinghe Railway Station, which is connected to Urban Railway Line 13 or Changping Line. It usually requires booking tickets in advance to get them, although tickets can be purchased at the station as it is generally busier, it does not work with any transport cards and can be booked up to two weeks in advance by CR website or app, but if the itinerary changes or the trip is cancelled, there is an additional fee for changing the ticket.

In addition to rail services, there are lots of bus services can get to the Badaling Great Wall.

The most convenient way to travel between Beijing and Tianjin city center is through the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity high-speed Railway, the trains departure every 5 to 15 minutes from 6 a.m. to 22:30 p.m., there are different kinds of trains, some trains stop halfway, some trains are direct, and some trains go further to the new city area of Tianjin. However, all trains stop at the center of Tianjin, and the travel time between Beijing and the center of Tianjin is about 30-40 minutes. Trains will also run until the mid night on some public holidays. The number of trains from central Beijing (Beijingnan Railway Station) to and from central Tianjin (Tianjin Railway Station or Tianjinxi Railway Station) all start with the letter C and followed by a four-digit number with the first digit 2, and cost 54.5 yuan, regardless of whether the train stops on the way. If you find that there are some G class trains between Beijingnan Railway Station and Tianjinxi Railway Station, they are running on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, rather than the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity railway, but if you buy their tickets, it does not matter, it will also arrive at the destination within the same 30-40 minutes, but they implement floating fares. Ticket prices may vary between 50 and 67 yuan.

All trains have reserved seats, even on busy days such as public holidays. These trains need to purchase tickets in advance through CR website or app, tickets usually start selling two weeks in advance, but if the itinerary changes and you need to change the travel time or cancel the travel plan, you will be charged a certain fee, details can be view related contents in the page of how to taking the national rail. The train service on this line have always very busy since the service began in 2008, and during some busy periods, tickets are often sold out a few days in advance, if you are sure of your journey, we still recommend booking tickets a few days in advance, otherwise you can only select tickets that are still available and not necessarily the one you want.

The trains running on this line are basically the same, they are CR400BF or CR400BF-G which start provide service between 2017 and 2020, there are many batches of them, but their seats and main in-car facilities are exactly the same, only a few details will be different. The maximum speed of trains on this line is 350 km/h but only for eight-car trains non-during peak hours, the maximum speed is 310 km/h for 16-car trains because the route design did not take into account such a large passenger flow as the the power supply facilities cannot meet the demand. All trains are at 310 km/h during peak hours on account of most trains are in 16-cars.  Even so, the difference travel elapsed time of them between downtown Beijing and downtown Tianjin is only three minutes.

Their are another four railways including the Beijing-Shanghai Railway, the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed Railway, the cross-line train services on Beijing-Tangshan and Chengde-Tianjin high-speed railway, and the cross-line train services on Beijing-XiongAn and Daxing-Tianjin railway. Among them, the first two railway lines are very frequent, but they mainly serve long-distance travel, providing only limited service between Beijing and Tianjin, and the second two railway lines are very frequent, only two daily services.

The Beijing-Shanghai railway mainly runs some long-distance sleeper trains, but they have some relatively cheap fares, if it is a traditional train composed of locomotives and carriages, their lowest ticket price is only 19.5 to 23.5 yuan for ordinary seats, while the second-class seat of EMU trains is about 42 to 46 yuan, on weekdays, a discount of 15-20% will be offered eccept public holidays. The specific fare depends on which station to board and drop off from, there are trains between Beijing and Tianjinxi Railway Station, Beijing and Tianjin Railway Station, Beijing Fengtai Railway Station and Tianjin Railway Station. Most trains on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway stop at the slightly remote Tianjin South Railway Station in Tianjin, which also takes about 30 to 40 minutes, and they carry a floating fare, which can be between 50 and 67 yuan for second-class seats.

The cross-line trains on Beijing-Tangshan and Chengde-Tianjin Railways currently offers only two trains a day between Beijing station and Beichen station in the east of Tianjin. They take about 1.5 hours and cost 74 yuan for a second-class seat, which sometimes offers a discount of about 20 percent.

The cross-line trains on Beijing-XiongAn and Daxing-Tianjin Railways currently provides only two tainss a day from Tianjinxi Railway Station to BeijingXi Railway Station, and two trains from Beijingxi Railway Station to Tianjinxi Railway Station and finally direct to Tianjin Railway Station, they will stop at Daxing Airport Station in the middle, the train is relatively time-consuming, may take about 1.5 hours, the second-class ticket price of 78 yuan, but usually can give discounts. A discount of up to 35% can be offered.