The Paengma Line is a non-electrified standard-gauge secondary 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 North 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 Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

, running from Yŏmju on the P'yŏngŭi Line to South Sinŭiju, likewise on the P'yŏngui Line.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō),

Description

The ruling grade of the line is 13‰, and the minimum curve radius is . There are 26 bridges with a total length of , and two tunnels with a total length of . North Korea Geographic Information: Transportation Geography - Paengma Line (in Korean)
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History

''For the original line's history and other information prior to 1945, see

Gyeongui Line (1904–1945) The Gyeongui Line was a railway line of the Chosen Government Railway running from Gyeongseong to Sinuiju in Korea. After the partition of Korea in 1945, the line was divided between North and South Korea.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Sh ...

.'' The Namsi (now Yŏmju)–South Sinŭiju stretch of railway via Paengma was opened on 28 April 1905 by the Temporary Military Railway as part of the mainline of the Kyŏngŭi Line from Kyŏngsŏng (Seoul) to Sinŭiju. On 16 October 1943, South Sinŭiju Station became a connecting station with the Sinŭiju– Yangsi– Namsi

Yangsi Line The Yangsi Line was a non-electrified standard-gauge railway line of the Korean State Railway in North P'yŏngan Province, North Korea, running from Namsi (Yŏmju) on the P'yŏngŭi Line to South Sinŭiju, likewise on the P'yŏngŭi Line, with ...

, which 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 ...

had taken over from the privately owned Tasado Railway on 1 April of that year. After the establishment of the DPRK and the nationalisation of its railways to create the Korean State Railway, the line from Ryongch'ŏn (formerly Yangsi) to Yŏmju (formerly Namsi) remained separate as the Yangsi Line. In 1964 the Korean State Railway decided to make the shorter Yangsi Line the mainline of the P'yŏngui Line, and the former mainline between Yŏmju and South Sinŭiju was separated, becoming the current Paengma Line.

Services

There is extensive freight traffic on the line, serving the large Ponghwa Chemical Complex at Paengma and several other factories. A pair of local trains, numbered 418/419, operate between Sinŭiju Ch'ŏngnyŏn and Yŏmju, running along this line instead of the P'yŏngŭi line. There is also a short branch from Paengma to the private Songhwa Residence.

Route

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

References

Ministry of Railways A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructur ...

(1937), 鉄道停車場一覧. 昭和12年10月1日現在(The List of the Stations), p485 {{coord missing, North Korea Railway lines in North Korea Standard gauge railways in North Korea