Hochon Line

Hŏch'ŏn Line
Overview
Type	Heavy rail, Regional rail
Status	Operational
Locale	South Hamgyŏng
Termini	Tanch'ŏn Ch'ŏngnyŏn Honggun
Stations	12
Operation
Opened	26 Aug. 1939
Owner	Tanp'ung Railway (1939–1945) Korean State Railway (since 1945)
Technical
Line length	80.3 km (49.9 mi)
Number of tracks	Single track
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	3000 V DC Catenary (Tanch'ŏn Ch'ŏngnyŏn – Hŏch'ŏn)
Route map P'yŏngra Line Tuŏn Line Hoch'ŏn Line Yŏhaejin East Sea of Korea Munam Tuŏn Tanch'ŏn Refinery Tanch'ŏn Magnesia Factory 0.0 Tanch'ŏn Ch'ŏngnyŏn Omong-ri Tanch'ŏn Port 7.0 TongdaeMine Changdŏk Closed 21.1 Haunsŭng 32.6 Sangnong 39.3 Chungch'on 43.5 Nongch'on 49.7 Ch'udong Mandŏk Line 54.7 Hŏch'ŏn 60.9 Suŭi 67.1 Changp'a 71.3 Poch'iri Closed 78.9 Hahonggun 80.3 Honggun

The Hŏch'ŏn Line is an electrified standard-gauge secondary line of the Korean State Railway running from Tanch'ŏn on the P'yŏngra Line to Honggun.^[1]

History

The privately owned Tanp'ung Railway was formed to build a railway from Tanch'ŏn on the Hamgyŏng Line of the Chosen Government Railway to P'ungsan, the county seat of P'ungsan County; it was from the first characters of the names of the endpoints that the railway, and the mainline, got its name. The initial section of the mainline, 80.3 km (49.9 mi) from Tanch'ŏn to Honggun, was opened on 26 August 1939.^[2]. A branchline, the Mandŏk Line, from Kosŏng (now called Hŏch'ŏn) to Mandŏk was also opened, but the planned continuation from Honggun to P'ungsan was not completed before the fall of Japan at the end of the Pacific War.

Following the partition of Korea, the entirety of the Tanp'ung Railway's network was located in the Soviet zone of occupation. The Provisional People’s Committee for North Korea nationalised all railways in the northern half of the country on 10 August 1946, and following the establishment of North Korea, the Korean State Railway was created.^[3] Damage sustained by the line during the Korean War was repaired and the line was eventually electrified, but the extension to P'ungsan (renamed Kimhyŏnggwŏn in 1990) was never built.

Services

Two pairs of passenger trains are known to run on this line:^[1]

• Local trains 551/556, operating from Kokku to Tongdae, run on this line on the segment between Tanch'ŏn Ch'ŏngnyŏn and Tongdae;
• Local trains 925/926 operate on this line between Tanch'ŏn Ch'ŏngnyŏn and Honggun.

Route

A yellow background in the "Distance" box indicates that section of the line is not electrified.

References