The Pyeongbuk Railway ( Japanese: 平北鐵道株式會社, ''Heihoku Tetsudō Kabushiki Kaisha''; Korean: 평북철도주식회사, ''Pyeongbuk Cheoldo Jusikhoesa'') was a privately owned

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 ...

company in Japanese-occupied

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

History

The Pyeongbuk Railway opened its mainline, from

Jeongju Chŏngju (; also Jŏngju) is a ''si'', or city, in southern North P'yŏngan province, North Korea. Prior to 1994, it was designated as a ''kun'' or county. The terrain is mostly level, but mountainous in the north. To the south lies the Chŏ ...

on the Chosen Government Railway's Gyeongseong—

Sinuiju Sinŭiju (''Sinŭiju-si'', ; known before 1925 in English as Yeng Byen City) is a city in North Korea which faces Dandong, Liaoning, China across the international border of the Yalu River. It is the capital of North P'yŏngan province. Part of ...

Gyeongui Line to Cheongsu on 27 September 1939 as an industrial railway to serve the Supung Hydroelectric Power Plant on the

Yalu River The Yalu River, known by Koreans as the Amrok River or Amnok River, is a river on the border between North Korea and China. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border between ...

, opening the

Supung Line The Sup'ung Line is an electrified railway line of the Korean State Railway in North P'yŏngan Province, North Korea, running from Pup'ung on the P'yŏngbuk Line to Sup'ung.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō) H ...

branch from

Pupung Pupung is a daily comic strip created by Filipino cartoonist Washington "Tonton" Young. Appearing in the broadsheet ''Manila Bulletin'', the strip revolves around its title character, a young boy, and his family and household. Pupung's family ma ...

on the mainline to the dam at the same time.朝鮮總督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa Nr. 3813, 3 October 1939 At Cheongsu a bridge was built across the

to connect with the Fengshang Railway at Shanghekou,

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 ...

, and on 30 September 1940, the Pyeongbuk Railway opened the Supung Hoan Line.朝鮮總督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa Nr. 4114, 7 October 1940 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 ...

the line was within the territory of the DPRK, and was nationalised by the

Provisional People’s Committee for North Korea The People's Committee of North Korea (Chosŏn'gŭl: 북조선인민위원회) was a provisional government governing the Northern portion of the Korean Peninsula from 1947 until 1948. Established on 21 February 1947 as the successor of the ...

along with all other railways in 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, ...

zone of occupation on 10 August 1946, becoming the P'yŏngbuk 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 ...

.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), p. 131

Services

In the last timetable issued prior to the start 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 ...

, the Pyeongbuk Railway had six daily passenger trains on the schedule, three round trips between Jeongju and Supung, and three between Cheongsu and Supung: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)

Rolling Stock

Four Class 4110

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s were sent from the

Japanese Government Railway 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 Rai ...

to the Pyeongbuk Railway after conversion to standard gauge.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), p. 66

Network

References

{{reflist Rail transport in North Korea Rail transport in Korea Defunct railway companies of Korea Korea under Japanese rule Defunct companies of Japan