Kangwon Line

Kangwŏn Line
Overview
Native name	강원선(江原線)
Type	Heavy rail, Passenger/freight rail Regional rail
Status	Operational
Locale	South Hamgyŏng Kangwŏn
Termini	Kowŏn P'yŏnggang
Stations	23
Operation
Opened	Mainline: 1913-1916
Owner	Korean State Railway
Operator(s)	Korean State Railway
Depot(s)	Wŏnsan
Technical
Line length	145.8 km (90.6 mi) in use
Number of tracks	Single track
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Minimum radius	300 m (980 ft)
Electrification	3000 V DC Overhead line
Route map P'yŏngra Line to Rajin P'yŏngra Line to P'yŏngyang Electric locomotive shops 0.0 Kowŏn 7.5 Chŏnt'an Ch'ŏnnae Line Ryongdam Cement Factory 12.1 Ryongdam 22.0 Okp'yŏng Munch'ŏnhang Line Namch'ŏn River Mine with mining railway Kŭmgang Smelter; Munp'yŏng Smelter 29.4 Munch'ŏncoal mine Samp'och'ŏn 36.5 Tŏgwŏn Segil Songdowŏn Songdowŏn Line Chŏkch'ŏnch'ŏn 42.0 Wŏnsan P'yŏngyang–Wŏnsan Tourist Motorway bypass line under construction Wŏnsanhang Line Wŏnsan Hwamul Branch Wŏnsan HwamulKŭmgang Prime Mover Factory Engine shops 46.1 Kalma Kalma Airport 4 June Rolling Stock Works Kalmach'ŏn 52.8 Paehwa Yugyoch'ŏn Namdaech'ŏn 57.7 Anbyŏn Kŭmgangsan Ch'ŏngnyŏn Line 64.1 Namsan 73.5 Kwangmyŏng Namsanch'ŏn 81.6 Ryongjiwŏn Ryongjiwŏnch'ŏn 88.1 KosanNamdaech'ŏn series of six bridges over Namdaech'ŏn 97.4 Tonggari 102.5 Rakch'ŏn 106.4 Sambang series of 6 tunnels and 9 bridges over Namdaech'ŏn 114.1 Sep'o Ch'ŏngnyŏn Ch'ŏngnyŏn Ich'ŏn Line 121.3 Sŏngsan 126.3 Kŏmbullang 131.1 Ri'mok 142.0 Pokkye 145.8 P'yŏnggang 152.6 Kagok Closed ↑DPRK (P'yŏnggang-gun) DMZ ↓ROK (Ch'ŏrwŏn-gun) 162.6 Wŏljŏngri Closed 167.6 Ch'ŏrwŏn Closed former Kŭmgangsan Line 171.3 Paengmagoji 176.9 Sintalli 181.3 Taegwangri 188.3 Sinmangri 191.9 Ryŏnch'ŏn 200.5 Chŏn'gok 203.0 Hant'an'gang 38th Parallel - DPRK−ROK border prior to 1950 206.0 Ch'osŏngri Korail Kyŏngwŏn Line

The Kangwŏn Line is a 145.8 km (90.6 mi) electrified standard-gauge trunk line of the North Korean State Railway, connecting Kowŏn on the P'yŏngra Line to P'yŏnggang, providing an east–west connection between the P'yŏngra and Ch'ŏngnyŏn Ich'ŏn lines.^[1]

Although the line continues south across the Korean Demilitarized Zone, it is non-operational south of P'yŏnggang.

The ruling gradient is 25‰, the minimum curve radius is 300 m (980 ft); there are 94 bridges with a total length of 3,493 m (11,460 ft), and 18 tunnels with a total length of 6,243 m (20,482 ft). There are 23 stations on the line, with an average distance between stations of 6.5 km (4.0 mi). Wŏnsan Station is the most important station on the line; in addition to its passenger infrastructure, locomotive and freight car maintenance facilities are located there.^[2]

On 5 August 2015, South Korean President Park Geun-hye attended a ceremony launching work on the reconstruction of the 9.3 km Baengmagoji–Woljeong-ri section of Korail's Gyeongwon Line, which has been closed since the Korean War, as part of events marking the 70th anniversary of the partition of Korea. The works are to begin in October and are expected to be finished by 2017; the US $129 million project is being funded by the Unification Ministry. Park also stated her hope that the remaining 2.4 km section across the DMZ would be rebuilt soon, which would re-establish the old Kyŏngwŏn Line connecting Seoul to Wŏnsan.^[3]

History

For the original line's history and other information prior to 1945, see Gyeongwon Line (1911–1945)

American aerial bombing of a station south of Wŏnsan in 1950.

The Kangwŏn Line's Wŏnsan-P'yŏnggang section was opened, along with the rest of the Kyŏngwŏn Line from Seoul to Wŏnsan, on 16 August 1914 (the Wŏnsan−Ryongjiwŏn section was completed on 21 August 1913, Pokkye−Kŏmbullang on 25 September 1913, Kosan−Ryongjiwŏn on 21 October 1913, Kŏmbullang−Sep'o on 21 June 1914, and Sep'o−Kosan on 16 August 1914,^[4] forming an important east–west transversal line.

The Wŏnsan−Kowŏn section was built as part of the Hamgyŏng Line of the Chosen Government Railway (Sentetsu); this line ran on the routing of Wŏnsan−Kowŏn (now part of the Kangwŏn Line), Kowŏn−Ch'ŏngjin (now part of the P'yŏngra Line), and Ch'ŏngjin−Sangsambong (now part of the Hambuk Line).^[5] The Wŏnsan−Kowŏn section was completed in two parts: Wŏnsan−Ongp'yŏng (at the time called Munch'ŏn Station) on 1 August 1915, and Munch'ŏn−Kowŏn−Kŭmya on 21 July 1916; the Kowŏn−Kŭmya section is now part of the P'yŏngra Line.^[6]

The south end of what is now the Kangwŏn line was where the first railway electrification projects in Korea took place. The first of these was the privately owned Kŭmgangsan Electric Railway, which was first opened in 1924 from Ch'ŏrwŏn to Kimhwa, and by 1931 had been extended all the way to Naegŭmgang.^[7] Also in the 1930s, Sentetsu, together with the South Manchuria Railway, was developing plans to create an electrified railway all the way from Pusan in Korea to Xinjing, capital of Manchukuo.^[8] The first stage of this plan was the electrification of the Kyŏngwŏn, Kyŏnggyŏng and Kyŏngin lines,^[8] and in March 1940, the Imperial Diet budgeted 3.6 million Yen for electrification equipment for this plan.^[9] Electrification of the Pokkye−Kosan section of the Kyŏngwŏn line began in December 1940; it was completed and commissioned on 27 March 1944,^[10] and commercial electric operations commenced on 1 April 1944.^[11]

After the partition of Korea following the end of the Pacific War, the Kyŏngwŏn Line was split along the 38th parallel between the stations of Hantangang and Ch'osŏngri, and the Korean State Railway, established following the nationalisation of all railways in North Korea in 1946,^[1] merged the truncated Wŏnsan−Ch'osŏngri section of the Kyŏngwŏn Line with the Wŏnsan−Kowŏn section of the former Hamgyŏng Line to create the Kangwŏn Line. Following the end of the Korean War and the establishment of the Military Demarcation Line, the section south of Wŏljŏngri ended up in South Korea, where the Korean National Railroad reabsorbed it into the Kyŏngwŏn Line. The section from P'yŏnggang to Kagok has been closed since the end of the war, and since then the line has its current name, from the two termini: P'yŏnggang and Wŏnsan. The line was severely damaged during the Korean War, but was quickly repaired after the war.^[1] The Kowŏn−Sep'o Ch'ŏngnyŏn section of the line was electrified in September 1980, and the electrification of the Sep'o Ch'ŏngnyŏn−P'yŏnggang section was completed in early 1986.^[2]

Services

Route

References