DIRECT cross-border passenger services between Beijing in China and Pyongyang in North Korea resumed on March 12, after a hiatus of six years. Trains were suspended in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic but were not reinstated on the 1350km route after borders reopened.
The cross-border service once again comprises two coaches added to the K27 and return K28 overnight services from Beijing to Dandong on the border with North Korea, where they are detached for onward movement to Pyongyang.
The service operates four days per week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, departing Beijing at 17.26 and arriving at Dandong at 07.35 for passengers to pass through Chinese passport control. The train crosses the river to Sinujiu where North Korean passport checks take place and then continues to Pyongyang for arrival at 18.07. At Dandong the two coaches become train 95 to cross the border, and then train 52 from Sinujiu to Pyongyang, with train numbers 51 and 85 respectively in the opposite direction.
The Beijing - Dandong overnight service runs every day, and there is also one daily pair of direct high-speed services between the two cities, with a journey time of 4h 55min.
In China, tickets for Pyongyang are not sold on the national rail website and app, but are only available over the counter at international ticket sales centres in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanhaiguan, Shenyang and Dandong.
Cross-border services between Pyongyang and Moscow, Russia, resumed in the summer of 2025.
