Beijingxi (Beijing West) railway station (Chinese: 北京西站) is located in western Beijing’s Fengtai District. Opened in early 1996 after three years of construction, it was the largest railway station in Asia with an area of 510,000 m2,[1][2] before being surpassed by Shanghai Hongqiao railway station in platform capacity. The station serves in average 150,000–180,000 passengers per day with a maximum of 400,000 people per day.[3] It was expanded in 2000 and had a vast amount of parking spaces added.
Beijing West railway station is a terminal for both “traditional” and high-speed trains. It is the Beijing terminal for most trains leaving the city for destinations in western and southwestern China, including Xi’an, Chongqing, Chengdu, Lhasa and Urumqi. Major “traditional” rail lines beginning at this station include the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway (via Wuhan) and the Beijing-Kowloon Railway (via Nanchang and Shenzhen).
Beijing West is the terminal both for the Beijing-Kowloon Through Train and (since the opening of the Qingzang railway in 2006) for the Beijing-Lhasa trains.
Beijing West is the northern terminal of the Beijing-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway as of December 2012. High-speed trains leave the station for Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as various destinations on the connecting lines, such as Taiyuan and Xi’an. There are, however, plans to construct new major railway terminal (the new Fengtai railway station) in the southwestern part of Beijing, and to eventually make it the terminal for the high-speed trains on the Beijing-Guangzhou line.
The Beijing underground cross-city railway connects Beijing West with Beijing railway station.