OREANDA-NEWS. July 18, 2008. There are currently two long-distance passenger services between Moscow and Beijing, operated by Russian and Chinese railways respectively, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

Train No. 20/19 between Moscow - Beijing is operated by Russian Railways and runs 1 once a week via Zabaikalsk - Harbin all the year round.

It departs from Moscow on Fridays at 23.55 Moscow time and arrives in Beijing on the following Friday at 05.31. The Beijing train deaprts on Saturdays at 22.56 and arrives in Moscow the next Friday at 18.13. The time en route is 6 days 1 hour 36 minutes.

Along the route, direct through coaches to Beijing are attached in Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and Chita.

Train No. 20/19 between Moscow - Beijing consists of 1st Class cars with double berths per compartment and 2nd Class cars with 4 berths per compartment, as well as a restaurant car.

In December last year, the train was upgraded with new coaches offering improved operational performance and a higher level of comfort.

Train No. 4 / 3 between Moscow – Beijing operated by Chinese Railways also runs once a week all the year round via Naushki - Ulan Bator. It departs from Moscow on Tuesdays at 21.35 and arrives in Beijing on Monday in 14.04.

It departs from Beijing on Wednesdays at 07.45 and arrives in Moscow on Monday in 14.28. The time en route is 5 days 12 hours 29 minutes. The train consists of 1st class carriages per compartment with double berths 2nd class carriages with 4 berths per compartment.

In addition to the above trains, other services currently operating to and from China include:

- Coaches between Vladivostok - Harbin and Khabarovsk – Harbin operated by Russian Railways (via the Grodekovo border crossing);

- Train No. 6509/6510 operated by Russian Railways and Train No. 401/402 operated by Chinese Railways between Grodekovo - Suyfenhe;

- Coaches between Chita - Manchuria on the Zabaikalsk – Manchuria route.

When arranging travel documents on Russian Railways, the official exchange rate announced daily by the Russian Central Bank is used. Russian passengers with ordinary passports require transit visas for Mongolia.
 
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 Passenger traffic between Russian Railways and Chinese Railways is carried out in accordance with the Agreement on International Passenger Traffic and the International Rail Passenger Tariff.