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The West Chōsen Central Railway (
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
: 西鮮中央鉄道, ''Sōsen Chūō Tetsudō'';
Korean 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 ** ...
: 서선중앙철도, ''Seoseon Jung'ang Cheoldo''), 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 West Chōsen Central Railway opened its lines from Seunghori to Jangsang in several staged between 1939 and 1945. The first section, from Seunghori to Seongneum, was opened on 29 June 1939,朝鮮総督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa No. 3736, 5 July 1939 (in Japanese) followed five months later by an extension to Pyeongnam Gangdong.朝鮮総督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa No. 3851, 20 November 1939 (in Japanese) On 1 October 1941 a second line was opened, isolated from the first, made up of a mainline running from Sinseongcheon to Bukchang with a branchline, the Jaedong Line, from Gujeong to Jaedong.朝鮮総督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa No. 4410, 4 October 1941 (in Japanese) The two sections of mainline remained isolated from each other until 18 September 1942, when the gap between Pyeongnam Gangdong and Sinseongcheon, a distance of was closed.朝鮮総督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa No. 4699, 25 September 1942 (in Japanese) The newly built line did not long remain part of the West Chōsen railway, as on 1 April 1944 the line from Seunghori as far as Sinseongcheon was nationalised by 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 ...
(''Sentetsu'') and incorporated into the Pyeongyang Colliery Line.朝鮮総督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa No. 5143, 29 March 1944 (in Japanese) The West Chōsen Central Railway nevertheless continued expanding its truncated mainline, called the Seoseon Line, receiving approval from the Railway Bureau on 21 June 1940 to extend its line to Deokcheon and thence onwards to the Jangsang coal fields,朝鮮総督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa No. 4021, 18 June 1940 (in Japanese) in order to transport coal from the mines in the area opened in 1938 by the Chosen Anthracite Company.- 植民地朝鮮における石炭産業 - 大阪経済大学
/ref> The first of these extensions was a stretch from Bukchang to Okcheon opened on 28 December 1944,朝鮮総督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa No. 5376, 10 January 1945 (in Japanese) which was followed by a second extension, to Jangan, opened on 25 May 1945,朝鮮総督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa No. 5500, 6 June 1945 (in Japanese) reaching Deokcheon a few months later. The West Chōsen Central Railway planned its Deokbal Line (덕발선, 徳八線) line to run from Deokcheon to Gujang via Jangsangri, to connect there with Sentetsu's
Manpo Line The Manp'o Line is an electrified standard-gauge trunk line of the North Korean State Railway running from Sunch'ŏn on the P'yŏngra Line to Manp'o on the Pukpu Line. The line continues on from Manp'o to Ji'an, China.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様 ...
. However, the terrain proved too difficult, and, after adding a signal station at Hyangjang between Hyangwon and Jangsangni, construction on the current alignment of the line to Gujang began. However, this wasn't completed before war's end; it was only after the end of the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
that the connection to Gujang and the Manpo Line was finally made. After the end of the Pacific War and subsequent partition of Korea, 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 transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
zone of occupation on 10 August 1946, becoming part of the Korean State Railway. The line is now part of the P'yŏngdŏk Line, with the Hyangjang–Jangsang section now forming the Changsang Line.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō),


Operations

In addition to trains on its own lines, the West Chōsen Central Railway also operated a train in conjunction with the Chōsen Pyeongan Railway, from Deokcheon to Yonggang Oncheon, terminus of the latter's Oncheon Line.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), p. 86


Rolling Stock

As traffic volumes increased significantly through the Pacific War, the West Chōsen Central Railway found itself needing more power. As a result, eight Mikasa (ミカサ) class 2-8-2 steam locomotives were bought in 1943 and 1944. More were needed, but as the capacity of locomotive builders in Japan and Korea was already being stretched, Mikaro (ミカロ) class locomotives were borrowed from 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'') to alleviate the power shortage. Of these, the identities of two are known for certain - ミカロ18 and ミカロ22.


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