The Suryeo Line (水驪線, ''Suirei-sen'') is a former narrow-gauge railway line owned by

Korean National Railroad The Korea Railroad Corporation (Korean: 한국철도공사, Hanja: ), branded as KORAIL (코레일, officially changed to in November 2019), is the national railway operator in South Korea. Currently, KORAIL is a public corporation, managed ...

. The line connected

Suwon Suwon (, ) is the capital and largest city of Gyeonggi-do, South Korea's most populous province which surrounds Seoul, the national capital. Suwon lies about south of Seoul. It is traditionally known as "The City of Filial Piety". With a populati ...

to Yeoju.

History

The first section of the line was opened by the privately owned

Chosen Gyeongdong 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 Chai ...

in 1930 and in the next year the construction was complete as follows: The line was bought on 26 October 1942 by the

Chosen Railway The Chosen Railway Company (Japanese: 朝鮮鉄道株式会社, ''Chōsen Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha''; Korean: 조선철도주식회사, ''Joseon Cheoldo Jusikhoesa''), was a privately owned railway company in Japanese-occupied Korea. History The ...

and after the independence of Korea, it was nationalized. After the first opening of the Yeongdong Expressway, the demand diminished abruptly and the line was finally abandoned on 31 March 1972. The Everline was finally opened on 26 April 2013 and the section Giheung – Stadium–Songdam College coincides almost with the former Suryeo line.百年の鉄道旅行(The railway travel-100 years)
The map of the section Singal – Yongin
(Japanese) The Gyeonggang Line, which opened on August 27, 2016, will follow the line from Icheon to Yeoju.

Future plans

Neither the Ministry of Construction and Transportation nor

Korail The Korea Railroad Corporation (Korean: 한국철도공사, Hanja: ), branded as KORAIL (코레일, officially changed to in November 2019), is the national railway operator in South Korea. Currently, KORAIL is a public corporation, managed ...

have reconstruction plans for the Suryeo Line as a whole. However, part of the line was reconstructed as a part of the Yongin Everline, and another part of the line will serve as a section of the Gyeonggang Line, allowing Yeoju to have a rail connection with Seongnam and

Icheon Icheon () is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Together with Yeoju, Icheon is known as a center of South Korean ceramic manufacturing and is a UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art. Other famous local products include peaches and rice. Loc ...

Rolling stock

The Suryeo line used narrow gauge

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, narrow gauge freight cars, KNR160 diesel cars, and KNR18000 passenger cars. After closure, all rolling stock was sent to the

Suin Line The Suin Line (Suwon-Incheon) was a metro line of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway serving the Seoul Capital Area. The original route, abandoned in 1995, was one of the few narrow-gauge railways in South Korea. Opened by the privately owned Chosen ...

. Examples of KNR160 and KNR18000 cars have been preserved in the

Korean Railroad Museum Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

Uiwang Uiwang () is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It is one of many satellite cities that ring Seoul, making up the Seoul Capital Area. Its largest immediate urban neighbor is Anyang. The low peaks of the Gwangju Mountains (including Moraks ...

. The Gyeonggang Line, which follows part of the Suryeo Line, uses

Korail Class 371000 The Korail Class 371000 trains are commuter electric multiple units in South Korea used on the Gyeonggang Line. Technical details Electrical parts All trains use IGBT controls and use passive cooling with a heat pipe. The trains are also eq ...

EMUs. The Yongin Everline, which follows another part of the Suryeo Line, uses Bombardier Innovia Metro Mark II cars.

Route

References

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 Rai ...

(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), Kawaguchi Printing Company, Tokyo, p514 Railway lines in South Korea Rail transport in South Korea Rail transport in Korea Chosen Railway {{SouthKorea-rail-transport-stub

History

Future plans

Rolling stock

Route

See also

References