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The train started running in 1959, covering a distance of 7826km, and is the 4th longest passenger train service in the world. The Beijing to Moscow train (K3/003/003З) departs every Wednesday from Beijing station and takes 131 hours and 31 minutes to arrive at Moscow Yaroslavsky station, while the Moscow to Beijing train (K4/004/004З) departs every Tuesday from Moscow and takes 129 hours and 50 minutes to arrive at Beijing.[2][3]
When this train was first operated in the 1960s, most of the passengers were government officials, with there being police guarding it even in the depot, earning it the nickname "The Mystery Train of the East". During the Sino-Soviet split in the 1980s, as little as 20 passengers took the K3/4 train, although it continued to operate.[4]
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the train became mostly filled with businessmen and traders carrying their goods, which when combined with lack of policing at the time, caused a series of robberies now known as the Trans-Siberian train robberies[zh].[5]
In 2000, China initiated its third campaign to increase the speed of its railways, the K3/4 train was sped up and renumbered from 3/4 to K3/4.[6] After the 2000s, the train became mostly used by tourists instead, becoming a tourist train.[4]
In 2020, this train service has suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic through the three countries.[7]
During 25 February and 11 March, 2025, a 12-carriage K3/4 started trial run without any passengers, to prepare for a future operation resumption.[8] In this trial, coaches are replaced by International 25G.
As China uses 1435mm standard gauge rail track, while Russia and Mongolia use 1520 mm broad gauge track, there is a break of gauge at the Chinese-Mongolian border, where the train stops for around three hours at Erenhot, where passengers first go through Chinese immigration procedures, then the entire train is lifted up, then the train's bogies are swapped out for new bogies of the corresponding gauge. Passengers remain in the train while this procedure is conducted.[9]
The train is composed of thirteen carriages in China, with nine international carriages, composed of five hard sleepers, three luxury[zh]soft sleepers and a baggage car, as well as three domestic hard sleeper carriages and a domestic restaurant car. Other domestic restaurant cars and sleeper carriages are also attached upon entering Mongolia and Russia.
Section
Beijing↔Erenhot
Beijing↔Moscow
Zamin Uud↔Sukhbaatar
Naushki↔Moscow
Coach
Nil
0
A1-A2
1-2
3
5-7
8
9-10
11
12-15
Nil
0
Nil
18 (K3), 3 (K4)
Type
CA25G
Restaurant
YW25G
Hard Sleeper
YW25G
Hard Sleeper
KD25G
Air-con
XL25G
Luggage
YW25G
Hard Sleeper
RW25G
Soft sleeper
RW25G
Luxury soft sleeper
YW25G
Hard Sleeper
YW25G
Hard Sleeper
МЕСТ
РЕСТОРАН Restaurant
МЕСТ-18
18 pax Luxury kupe
МЕСТ
РЕСТОРАН Restaurant
МЕСТ-36
36 pax Platzkart
Operator
CR Beijing
CR Beijing
UBTZ
RZD Moscow/East-Siberia
Timetable
There is no time difference between China and Mongolia. The time difference between Moscow and China/Mongolia is five hours.[note 1]
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The 2018 Chinese crime television series Operation Moscow[zh] and the film Moscow Mission and other, older films were based on the Trans-Siberian train robberies that happened on this train in the early 1990s.
The 2020 Chinese comedy filmLost in Russia portrays the protagonist and his mother taking the K3/4 train to Moscow.
Ticketing
The train is priced using Chinese yuan when sold in China, although ticket scalpers may resell the train tickets at much higher prices. Prices to major stations from Beijing:[2]
To avoid COVID-19, all trains suspended operation until 2024 when international trains resumed services. But not all are resumed.
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