Hi guys, we wanted to go by train from lanzhou to urumqui by mid/end april, and now there seems to be a rule that bicycles are not allowed in chinese trains since january 2015 http://en.trackingchina.com/2015/01/06/p...railway-trains/
Has anybody done this train journey recently and how did you solve bringing the bike with you? We do not speak Chinese.. And have no idea how long would it take to organize this, is it possible in a reasonable time frame?
There is also the New express train now as we understand, does the old connection still exist? Thanks a ton for your help!!!

I am not sure whether this is helpful to you, but the Chinese postal service is quite ok. If you have an adress that you can send the bike to, sending it in advance would be an option. Postage fee is not expensive. China Railways Goods Services (中铁快运) seems to be an option and according to their website they are very quick. Should not take more than four days on any given route inside China.
Whether all this is possible for you would depend on whether they have someone who speaks English good enough at the office in Lanzhou. Or you could find someone from the hotel or just any English-speaking university student to help you. Of course you should pay them for their efforts, but it would be relatively inexpensive to you and a nice bit of extra money for them.

Thank you Felix! I am indeed a bit worried because my chinese language skills are simply not existent, but we will try to find somebody there to help us, and take enough time with us.

did you try oveland buses or flying?
felixs is right. Some Chinese speaking people might make things easier for you. There should be some university students or language schools in Lanzhou willing to help you.

We will face the same problem in summer as we plan to enter China from Kirgistan later at around August this year. We plan to do the reserse trip (Kashgar - Lanzhou) by train as well