Kanggye Line

Kanggye Line
Overview
Native name	강계선(江界線)
Type	Heavy rail, Regional rail
Locale	Chagang
Termini	Kanggye Rangrim
Stations	13
Operation
Opened	1948
Owner	Korean State Railway
Technical
Line length	56.8 km (35.3 mi)
Number of tracks	Single track
Track gauge	762 mm (2 ft 6 in)
Electrification	1500 V DC Catenary
Route map Manp'o Line to Manp'o Changja River 0.0 Kanggye Pukch'ŏn River Sin'ganggye Manp'o Line to Sunch'ŏn Changja River Namch'ŏn factory; engine shops 1.8 Nammun Kanggye Tractor Factory Kanggye Tractor Factory Tokpu Closed 8.9 Hyangha Kanggye Ch'ŏngnyŏn Power Station 14.0 Sŭngbang 17.4 Kongbuk 21.6 O-il 24.0 P'yŏngri Closed 28.4 Hwangp'o switchback 33.5 Simrip'yŏng Namch'ŏn Sangsimrip'yŏng Closed 41.3 Sangsinwŏn 46.7 Hasinwŏn 56.9 Rangrim

The Kanggye Line is an electrified narrow gauge line of the Korean State Railway in North Korea running from Kanggye on the Manp'o Line to Rangrim,^[1] primarily hauling forest products.^[2] An interesting feature of the line is a significant switchback west of Rangrim.

History

The Kanggye Line was built by the Korean State Railway in the late 1940s to aid in the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Changjin River in the Rangrim mountains;^[2] construction of the dam had been started by the Japanese in 1937.^[3] Following an order issued in September 1999 by Kim Jong-il, electrification of the line at 1500V DC was completed on 5 October 2000.^[2]

Route

A yellow background in the "Distance" box indicates that section of the line is not electrified; a pink background indicates that section is 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge; an orange background indicates that section is non-electrified narrow gauge.

References