The Musan Line is an electrified standard-gauge secondary trunk 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 Pyongyang, P'yŏngyang. The current Minister of Railways is Chang Jun Song. History ...

in Musan and Puryŏng counties, North Hamgyŏng 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 Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

, running from Komusan 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 ...

to Musan, where it connects to the narrow-gauge

Paengmu Line The Paengmu Line is a partially electrified narrow gauge line of the Korean State Railway running from Paeg'am on the Paektusan Ch'ŏngnyŏn Line to Musan on the Musan Line, in the Ryanggang and North Hamgyŏng provinces of North Korea.Kokub ...

.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), The section from Komusan to Sinch'am is double tracked.The traffic and geography in North Korea
Hambuk Line
(in Korean) The line starts at Komusan on the Hambuk Line, following the Susŏngch'ŏn stream through the Hamgyŏng Mountains of Puryŏng and Musan Counties to Musan. The line is 57.9 km in length, with 13 stations. There is a sorting yard at Musan Station and locomotive facilities at Ch'ŏlsong.

History

In order to exploit the rich iron deposits of the Musan region, the North Chosen Colonial Railway began construction of this line, calling it the Hambuk Line (not to be confused with the current

, which at that time was part of the Hamgyŏng Line). The line was opened in two parts - the Komusan- Sinch'am section opening on 20 August 1927, and the Sinch'am-Musan segment being opened on 15 November 1929. On 1 February 1937, Musan Ch'ŏlsan station was opened.

Japanese Government Railways The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national railway system directly operated by the Japanese Ministry of Railways ( ja, 鉄道省, Tetsudō-shō, ) until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Ra ...

(1937), 鉄道停車場一覧. 昭和12年10月1日現在(The List of the Stations as of 1 October 1937), pp. 511 Originally built as a narrow-gauge line, the conversion to standard gauge was completed on 1 May 1940,朝鮮總督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa Nr. 3984, 6 May 1940 and the extension to Musan Kangan station was completed then as well. By 1942, the North Chosen Colonial Railway was operating four daily return trips between Komusan and Musan, timed to connect with local and express services on 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), a 1967 novel by Chaim ...

's (''Sentetsu'') Hamgyŏng Line.Tōa Travel Co. (東亜旅行社), Ministry of Railways Combined Timetable 1 November 1942 (鐵道省編纂時刻表昭和１７年１１月１日) On 1 April 1944, the line was absorbed into Sentetsu;朝鮮總督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa Nr. 5143, 29 March 1944 at the same time, the line was given its current name, Musan Line, and the extension to Musan Kangan station was closed. In order to facilitate the transport of

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...

from the Musan Mining Complex, the 33.6 km section between Sinch'am and Komusan was double-tracked, and electrification of the line was completed in 1977.

Services

Freight

Freight traffic on the Musan Line is 7.5 times greater in the eastbound (Musan-Komusan) direction than the reverse. 94.2% of the freight moved towards Komusan is

magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe2+Fe3+2O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. With th ...

ore from the Musan Mining Complex; timber accounts for 4.3%. From Komusan to Musan coal forms the majority of freight, along with other necessities - grain, fertiliser, cement etc. A large portion of westbound trains consist of empty cars bound for the mines at Musan. Most freight traffic on the line is from the Musan Mining Complex via the Musan Mining Line to the Kim Chaek Steel Complex, the Ch'ŏngjin Steel Works, the Sŏngjin Steel Complex and export goods to Namyang Station for forwarding to China.

Passenger

There are two passenger trains known to operate on this line: * Express trains 9/10, operating between P'yŏngyang and Musan, run along the entirety of this line between Komusan and Musan; * Two daily pairs of local trains, 662/663 and 668/669, operate between Musan and Chuch'o. There are also local trains running between Musan and Ch'ŏngjin at the southern junction of the Hambuk and P'yŏngra Lines. Further, there are several daily commuter trains for workers between Musan and Ch'ŏlsong and for students between Musan and Komusan.

Route

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

Mainline

References

{{coord missing, North Korea Railway lines in North Korea Standard gauge railways in North Korea