The Hongŭi Line is an electrified standard-gauge secondary line of the

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 ...

State Railway State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

running from Hongŭi on the

Hambuk Line The Hambuk Line is an electrified standard-gauge trunk line of the Korean State Railway in North Korea, running from Ch'ŏngjin) on the P'yŏngra Line to Rajin, likewise on the P'yŏngra line.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama n ...

Tumangang Tumangang-rodongjagu ( ko, 두만강로동자구) is a neighbourhood in Sonbong, Rason, North Korea, near the China–North Korea–Russia tripoint where the borders of the three countries converge. It is also the closest town in North Korea to ...

, which is the border station between North Korea and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. From Tumangang the line continues across the border to Khasan, Russia.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), The line from Tumangang to Rajin is double-tracked, including the entirety of the Hongŭi Line;The traffic and geography in North Korea
Hambuk Line
(in Korean) during the recent renovation a 32 km section of dual

Standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

Russian gauge Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

was installed between

and Rajin stations. The entirety of the North Korean section of the line is located in

Sŏnbong county Sŏnbong-guyŏk, formerly called Unggi (Chosŏn'gŭl: 웅기, Hancha: 雄基), is a subdivision of the North Korean city of Rason. It is located at the northeastern extreme of North Korea, bordering Russia and China. It lies on Unggi Bay, an exte ...

of Rasŏn Special City. There are service facilities for locomotives and rolling stock at Tumangang Station.

History

The line was built in the late 1940s, coinciding with the opening of a line on the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Far Eastern Railway Far Eastern Railway (russian: Дальневосточная железная дорога) is a railway in Russia that crosses Primorsky Krai, Khabarovsk Krai, Amur Oblast, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, and Yakutia. Information The railway administ ...

from Baranovsky to Khasan. The station at Khasan was opened on 28 September 1951, and in 1952 a wooden railway bridge was built across the

Tumen River The Tumen River, also known as the Tuman River or Duman River (), is a long river that serves as part of the boundary between China, North Korea and Russia, rising on the slopes of Mount Paektu and flowing into the Sea of Japan. The river has ...

in North Korea. The

Korean-Russian Friendship Bridge Khasan (russian: Хаса́н) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Khasansky District of Primorsky Krai, Russia. It is located near the tripoint on the Tumen River where the borders of Russia, China and North Korea converge. Popu ...

across the Tumen River was commissioned on 9 August 1959, replacing the temporary wooden bridge, which had grown to be insufficient for the traffic crossing the river.

Services

Freight

Tumangang Station is the primary transit point for trade with Russia. The main imports from Russia are timber and crude oil; the main exports are magnesite, steel, fertiliser, non-ferrous metals and non-ferrous metal concentrates, but since the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

freight traffic has dropped significantly. However, with the renovation and conversion to dual Russian and standard gauge of the 32 km line between Tumangang and Rajin, which includes the entirety of this line, together with the redevelopment of Rajin's port facilities to serve as a gateway to the Trans-Eurasian railway linking Korea to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

by land, freight traffic is expected to increase significantly in the future. The completion of these renovations has raised the capacity of the line to 12 trains each way per day, with a nominal capacity of 4 million tonnes a year.

Passenger

The international express train 7/8 that operates between

P'yŏngyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 population ...

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

runs on this line between Hongŭi and Tumangang before crossing the border into Russia. There is also a long-distance service between Tumangang and Tanch'ŏn Ch'ŏngnyŏn station on the

P'yŏngra Line The P'yŏngra Line is an electrified standard-gauge trunk line of the Korean State Railway in North Korea, running from P'yŏngyang to Rason, where it connects with the Hambuk Line.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), I ...

. Further, the

Russian Railways Russian Railways (russian: link=no, ОАО «Российские железные дороги» (ОАО «РЖД»), OAO Rossiyskie zheleznye dorogi (OAO RZhD)) is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both manag ...

operate trains 651/652 between

Ussuriysk Ussuriysk (russian: Уссури́йск) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Primorsky Krai, Russia, located in the fertile valley of the Razdolnaya River, north of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the krai, and about ...

and Tumangang.

Route

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hongui Line Railway lines in North Korea Standard gauge railways in North Korea