The Changsang Line is an electrified freight-only

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line of the

Korean State Railway The Korean State Railway (), commonly called the State Rail () is the operating arm of the Ministry of Railways of North Korea and has its headquarters at P'yŏngyang. The current Minister of Railways is Chang Jun Song. History 1945–195 ...

in South P'yŏngan Province,

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, running from Hyangjang on the P'yŏngdŏk Line to Changsang.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō)

History

On 21 June 1940, the

West Chosen Central Railway The West Chōsen Central Railway (Japanese: 西鮮中央鉄道, ''Sōsen Chūō Tetsudō''; Korean: 서선중앙철도, ''Seoseon Jung'ang Cheoldo''), was a privately owned railway company in Japanese-occupied Korea. History The West Chōsen Ce ...

, which since 1939 had been operating a line between Sŭnghori and P'yŏngnam Kangdong, (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa No. 3851, 20 November 1939 (in Japanese) received approval from the Railway Bureau of the Government-General of Korea to build a line to the Changsang coal fields via Tŏkch'ŏn; (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa No. 4021, 18 June 1940 (in Japanese) the

Chosen Anthracite Company Chosen or The Chosen may refer to: The chosen ones *Chosen people, people who believe they have been chosen by a higher power to do a certain thing including **Jews as the chosen people Books * ''The Chosen'' (Potok novel), a 1967 novel by Chaim ...

had opened mines around Changsang and Tŏkch'ŏn in 1938 From Tŏkch'ŏn, which it had reached in the summer of 1945, the West Chosen Central Railway planned its Tŏkpal Line () line to run from Tŏkch'ŏn to

Kujang Kujang may refer to: Places * Kujang County, North Pyongan province, North Korea ** Kujang (town) * Kujang, Odisha, India Other uses * Kujang (weapon), a blade weapon native to the Sundanese people of West Java, Indonesia * , a ''Clurit''-class f ...

via Changsangri (today's Changsang Station), to connect there with the

Chosen Government Railway Chosen or The Chosen may refer to: The chosen ones *Chosen people, people who believe they have been chosen by a higher power to do a certain thing including **Jews as the chosen people Books *The Chosen (Potok novel), ''The Chosen'' (Potok novel ...

Manp'o Line The Manp'o Line is an electrified standard-gauge trunk line of the North Korean State Railway running from Sunch'ŏn on the P'yŏngra Line to Manp'o on the Pukpu Line. The line continues on from Manp'o to Ji'an, China.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様� ...

. However, the terrain proved too difficult, and, after adding a signal station at Hyangjang between Hyangwŏn and Changsangri, construction on the current alignment of the line to Kujang began. However, this wasn't completed before the end of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

, and it was only after the end of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

that the connection to Kujang and the Manp'o Line was finally made. After the

partition of Korea The division of Korea began with the defeat of Japan in World War II. During the war, the Allied leaders considered the question of Korea's future after Japan's surrender in the war. The leaders reached an understanding that Korea would be li ...

following Japan's defeat in the war, all railways in North Korea were nationalised and made part of the Korean State Railway. The P'yŏngyang Colliery Line (P'yŏngyang–Sinsŏngch'ŏn) and the former West Chosen Central Railway mainline (Sinsŏngch'ŏn–Tŏkch'ŏn) were joined together to form the P'yŏngdŏk Line; after the Tŏkpal Line was extended to Kujang after the end of the Korean War, it was later merged with the P'yŏngdŏk Line, but the line's name was not changed, while the Hyangjang–Changsangri section became the Changsang Line. Electrification of the line was completed in June 1979.

Route

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Changsang Line Railway lines in North Korea Standard gauge railways in North Korea Railway lines opened in 1945