With gilded eaves and soaring clock towers, the architecture of the railway blends traditional Chinese and socialist realist influence.

To commemorate the Tenth Anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in 1958 began the planning and construction of ten large-scale projects, known as the "Ten Great Buildings" to showcase the new outlook of the country and the Beijing railway station was amongst the projects undertaken.

In late October 1958, according to the early 1950 Beijing municipal government's construction and planning records, the design arrangements for the new railway station was commenced.

At the time of completion, the station has a twelve tracks and six railway platforms with canopies attached to them.

The inner complex of the Main Station Building contained a passenger waiting room, mother and child waiting room, movie theater, recreation hall, visitors' restaurants, post office, clinic and other facilities.

The roof had two clock towers; bells marked 7 AM and 9 PM by playing "The East Is Red".

[2] Since 1976, the Beijing railway station had begun a series of upgrades to the passenger service facilities, for example a computer system had been set up for processing tickets, a TV monitoring screen, wireless communication, automatic broadcasting system, and extensions made to the railway platform expanded its length from 497 to 603 meters (1,631 to 1,978 ft) in order to meet the needs of the expanding transportation flow.

In 1988, the Shanghai Electric Clock Factory installed China's first large screen display system in the Beijing railway station square.

[8] Since 18 June 2003, the Beijing railway station began an expansion of two new sites, comprising an area of 20,513 square meters (220,800 sq ft) and includes a specialized large parcel luggage line,[9] renovations included the removal of the concrete canopy, alterations to the steel arch station poles, and alterations to the original site raised it from 1 to 1.2 meters.