Guangzhou South Railway Station is the busiest train station by passenger volume in all of China, located in the Shibi area of Panyu District in the south of the city, about half an hour from downtown by metro. Construction began in December 2004 as part of the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway project, and the station officially opened for service on January 30, 2010, becoming since then one of the most important rail hubs in southern China and the world. The station building covers a total area of roughly 615,000 square meters, of which 486,000 square meters is dedicated to the station structure itself, at a construction cost of about 13 billion yuan. The complex has 15 platforms and 28 tracks, making it one of the largest high-speed rail stations in the world by capacity. Today the station serves a wide network of high-speed lines, most notably the Wuhan-Guangzhou line (which partially opened to Guangzhou North in December 2009 before extending to the South station a month later), the Nanning-Guangzhou and Guiyang-Guangzhou lines, both opened together in December 2014, and the Guangzhou-Zhanjiang line, which entered service in December 2025 — effectively connecting the station to most of southern and central China. One notable feature that makes this station of particular interest to Arab and Gulf travelers is its role as the main departure point for high-speed link trains to Hong Kong: about 35 direct train services run daily to Hong Kong's West Kowloon Station, with the fastest journeys taking only about 47 minutes to cover the entire distance, thanks to the "co-location" immigration system at West Kowloon Station, which lets travelers complete both Hong Kong and mainland Chinese immigration procedures within the same station without extra transfers. The station also runs about 200 pairs of short-distance trains daily to Guangzhou and Shenzhen at roughly 20-minute intervals, making it a central hub for fast travel across the wider Pearl River Delta region encompassing Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. The station's daily traffic volume reflects its unique standing: it officially has the highest number of daily train departures of any station in China. Under the operating schedule that took effect in January 2025, the station handled about 619.5 train pairs a day, meaning roughly 1,200-plus train movements daily — a figure surpassing any other station in the country and reflecting this facility's supreme logistical importance for all of Guangdong province and the Pearl River Delta region. Given the station's sheer size and constant crowding, travelers are advised to arrive at least 45-60 minutes before departure, especially during Chinese holiday seasons when passenger numbers surge dramatically. All luggage is screened at the station's entrances, and pre-booked electronic tickets can be collected at self-service machines using a passport directly, without needing to queue at ticket windows — though note that signage and announcements inside the station are mostly in Chinese with limited English translation. The station has restaurants, shops, and luggage storage facilities, and the metro is the more reliable way to arrive or depart compared to taxis, which often face long queues outside the station during peak hours. Given this enormous logistical weight, a whole new business district has grown up around the station over the past years, with office towers, international hotels across various price tiers, and shopping centers serving the hundreds of thousands of travelers and workers who pass through daily — making an overnight stay near the station a practical choice for anyone with an early or late train, or for those who prefer to avoid the congestion of the old downtown core. The station connects directly to the Guangzhou Metro network via Lines 2 and 7, alongside a long-distance bus terminal attached to the complex itself. One of the most notable nearby destinations is the famous Chimelong Tourist Resort, one of the largest theme park, water park, and safari zoo complexes in all of China, just a few metro stops from the South station — making it very easy to combine a high-speed rail journey with a full day of family entertainment at Chimelong as part of a single trip to the Panyu area.