Railway stations in Beijing
There are two major stations in Beijing, Beijing Main (metro Bejingzhan) and Beijing West (also called Beijing Xi or Xizhan, metro Junshibowuguan).  Please double check the tickets! Ask a Chinese friend to read the ticket to you in advance. Because there is no subway transfer between these two stations. In case you made a mistake, the traffic might be terribly crowded (only 5km drive, it might take hours).
Beijing Main Station
Trans-Siberian trains to Moscow & Ulan Bator use Beijing Main, as do trains to Shanghai.
Beijing West Station
The direct train to Hong Kong and trains to Xian, Guangzhou & Tibet all use Beijing’s newer West station.
Both Beijing stations are large and busy, and some people find them confusing. So arrive in plenty of time for your train! When you reach the station, you must first go through airport-style security controls into the departure area.
For soft sleeper travel, you must then find the appropriate waiting lounge for your train. There are a number of different waiting lounges, and the electronic message boards show which is the right one for each specific train. Tickets are checked on entering the lounge, so you can be sure you are in the right place. Inside the lounge, the electronic message boards show the trains departing from that lounge, for the next 24 hours.
Trains are usually allocated between lounges so there is ½ hour or more between each departure from that lounge. Most trains are shown as ‘on time’, but the most immediate departures are shown as ‘waiting’. Once a train is ready for boarding (normally about 30 minutes before departure) it is shown as ‘check in’, meaning you can proceed through ticket control to the platform. About 5 minutes before departure the barrier is closed and the train is shown as ‘check out’.
How to buy a train ticket at my hotel in Beijing?
Your hotel may be able to arrange tickets if you book accommodation with them, and this may be the cheapest way to arrange tickets in advance. Remember that reservations for the best Z-category express trains open 20 days in advance, but for most other trains bookings only open 5-10 days before departure. Even an agency cannot positively confirm your booking before reservations open and they buy your ticket.