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The Beijing-Kowloon Through Train (Chinese: 京九直通车; pinyin: jīng jiǔ zhítōng chē) is an intercity railway service between Hung Hom Station (formerly Kowloon Station until 1998) in Hong Kong and the Beijing West Railway Station, jointly operated by the MTR of Hong Kong and China Railway, China's national rail service. The train runs to Beijing and Hong Kong every other day. Services use the East Rail Line in Hong Kong, cross the boundary between Hong Kong and mainland China at Lo Wu and then continue along China's railway network via the Guangshen railway and the Jingguang railway to Beijing. Total journey time is approximately 23 hours, and the train uses 25T class train carriages.
Contents
Carriages
The train operates in two parts, where 11 carriages depart Hong Kong (travelling under number T97B from Beijing and T98B from Hong Kong) with an additional 8 carriages added at Guangzhou East Railway Station (using number Z97A/Z98A), totalling 19 carriages. Along the route, trains stop at Changsha, Wuhan and Zhengzhou, though only passengers travelling from Guangzhou may disembark due to customs and immigration reasons.
The Hong Kong to Beijing section of the train is divided into three distinct classes - hard sleeper, soft sleeper and luxury soft sleeper (catering only to two persons, with better furnishing and private lavatories). The Guangzhou to Beijing section of the train only have hard sleepers and hard seats.
Dining services are provided by the Guangshen Railway Company. Passengers may choose to buy from carts which are pushed throughout the train at different intervals, or choose to dine in the dining car. The dining car provides a selection of light refreshments, along with two sets of menus (one for breakfast, and one for lunch/dinner) providing a range of cooked, a la carte dishes.
Locomotives
The train changes locomotives once on the way.
Ticketing
Beijing-bound passengers from Hong Kong may order tickets from an online reservation system operated by the MTR Corporation. The system is limited to the one-way, Hong Kong to Beijing trips only. Ordering of tickets requires extensive registration, including a credit card number, and tickets can only be delivered in the Hong Kong SAR, which makes it impossible for most non-HK resident customers to order. Travellers for Beijing may purchase Northbound tickets at a dedicated counter at Hung Hom Station, whilst Southbound tickets from Beijing to Hong Kong can only be purchased in Beijing or from travel agencies.
Service
Passengers departing from or arriving at Hong Kong can embark or disembark from platforms 5 or 6 of Hung Hom Station, which is restricted to intercity operations. Prior to boarding, passengers must go through Hong Kong immigration counters and cannot exit the restricted area.
Trains operate from either terminating stations on an alternate schedule, under the following timetable: