The Namyanggukkyŏng Line, or Namyang Border Line, is a long

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 ...

connecting Namyang 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 ...

with Kukkyŏng at the

DPRK 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 Tu ...

–

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

border, continuing on to Tumen, China, from Namyang.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), p. 93 At Tumen it connects with

China Railway China State Railway Group Company, Ltd., doing business as China Railway (CR), is the national passenger and freight railroad corporation of the People's Republic of China. China Railway operates passenger and freight transport throughout Ch ...

's Changtu Railway (

Changchun Changchun (, ; ), also romanized as Ch'angch'un, is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a , comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 c ...

–Tumen; 长图铁路), Tujia Railway (Tumen–

Jiamusi Jiamusi (Manchu: ; formerly Kiamusze) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China. Located along the middle and lower reaches of the Songhua River, it faces Russia's Khabarovsk Krai across the Ussuri R ...

; 图佳铁路), and Tuhun Railway (Tumen–South

Hunchun Hunchun (; Chosŏn'gŭl: 혼춘; Hangul: 훈춘) is a county-level city in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, far eastern Jilin province. It borders North Korea (North Hamgyong province) and Russia (Primorsky Krai), has over 250,000 inha ...

– Changlingzi and on to

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 ...

; 图珲铁路). The line is electrified between Namyang and Kukkyong.

History

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 ...

(''Sentetsu'') nationalised the privately owned Tomun Railway on 1 April 1929, acquiring the private railway's route from Hoeryŏng to Tonggwanjin (now Kangalli) and calling it the "West Tomun Line".朝鮮総督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa No. 669, 28 March 1929 (in Japanese) Intending to create as short a route as possible from Japan to

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

, Sentetsu had started building its own "East Tomun Line" from

Unggi Sonbong County, 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 extensi ...

(now Sŏnbong) towards Tonggwanjin in 1929, eventually reaching Namyang on 1 December 1932, and finally closed the final gap between Namyang and Tonggwanjin on 1 August 1933, thus completing the Tomun Line from Hoeryŏng to Unggi; Tonggwanjin station was renamed Tonggwan at that time.朝鮮総督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa No. 1963, 26 July 1933 (in Japanese) At the same time as the Namyang–Tonggwan section of the mainline was opened, a bridge was built over 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 ...

at Namyang, along with a line to Tumen,

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

. This connected Sentetsu to the

Manchukuo National Railway The Manchukuo National Railway (Traditional Chinese and Japanese kanji: , Japanese romanization: ''Manshū Kokuyū Tetsudō'') was the state-owned national railway company of Manchukuo. Generally called the "國線" ("National Line", ''Kokusen' ...

's new Jingtu Line from

Xinjing Xinjing may refer to: *'' Heart Sutra'' or ''Xinjing'' (心經), a Chinese-language sutra in Mahāyāna Buddhism Places in China * Changchun, the capital city of Jilin, known as Xinjing (新京) during the Manchukuo era (1932–1945) * Xinjing Tow ...

(now Changchun), capital of Manchukuo, to Tumen, that was also opened in 1933. This established the desired shortest-possible connection from Japan to

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...

via the Korean ports of Ch'ŏngjin and Unggi through Xinjing. On 1 October 1933, management of Sentetsu's entire route from Ch'ŏngjin to Unggi was transferred to the

South Manchuria Railway The South Manchuria Railway ( ja, 南満州鉄道, translit=Minamimanshū Tetsudō; ), officially , Mantetsu ( ja, 満鉄, translit=Mantetsu) or Mantie () for short, was a large of the Empire of Japan whose primary function was the operatio ...

(''Mantetsu''), and on 1 November 1934 the Unggi–Namyang section of the Domun Line and the Namyang–Tumen line were merged to form Mantetsu's North Chosen East Line (Unggi–Namyang–Tumen); the Namyang–Sambong section became the North Chosen West Line. In 1936, the "Asahi" express train between Xinjing and Rajin was inaugurated, to connect to the ferry from Rajin to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In 1940, management of the Ch'ŏngjin–Sambong route was transferred back to Sentetsu, which made it part of its

Hamgyeong Line The Hamgyeong Line was a Rail transport, railway line of the Chosen Government Railway (''Sentetsu'') in Korea under Japanese rule, Japanese-occupied Korea, running from Wonsan Station, Wonsan to Sambong Station, Sangsambong. Construction began i ...

; Mantetsu continued to manage the North Chosen East Line, eventually acquiring outright ownership of the line.朝鮮総督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa No. 5461, 21 April 1945 (in Japanese)

Services

The line is used for import-export traffic between the DPRK and China; the primary exports shipped through to China are

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 the ...

talc Talc, or talcum, is a Clay minerals, clay mineral, composed of hydrated magnesium silicate with the chemical formula Mg3Si4O10(OH)2. Talc in powdered form, often combined with corn starch, is used as baby powder. This mineral is used as a thi ...

and

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

, and the main import is coke.The traffic and geography in North Korea
Hambuk Line
(in Korean) These trains are often hauled by Chinese or Korean DF5-type locomotives.International train from Tumen to Namyang
/ref>

Route

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

References

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