The Poch'ŏn Line, also known as Paektusan Rimch'ŏl Line (''Mount Paektu Forestry Line''), is a former partially electrified narrow gauge 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 ...

Ryanggang Province Ryanggang Province (Ryanggangdo; ko, 량강도, ''Ryanggang-do'', ) is a province in North Korea. The province is bordered by China (Jilin) on the north, North Hamgyong on the east, South Hamgyong on the south, and Chagang on the west. Ryangg ...

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

Karim Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran. Given name Karim * Karim Ab ...

on the

Samjiyŏn Line Samjiyŏn Line is the name of a railway line of the Korean State Railway in Ryanggang Province, North Korea, running from Wiyŏn on the Paektusan Ch'ŏngnyŏn Line to Motka. The name is applied both to the original narrow gauge line built in 194 ...

to Ryanggang Taep'yŏng.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō),

History

Opened around the same time as the connecting

, extensive flooding in 1994 led to the closure of the line.北 자재난 심각…2012년 국책사업 줄줄이 ‘중단’
《데일리NK》, 2009.10.09.“사람 굶는데 ‘김일성 100년’ 공사 한창”
《데일리NK》, 2008.10.16. In August 1980,

Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...

ordered the construction of a new east–west transversal trunk line in the extreme north of the country.북한 북부철길 개건사업 마감단계.. ‘제2의 마식령속도’ 창조
/ref> To accomplish this, railway engineers planned the new line, called the

Pukpu Line The Pukbunaeryuk Line, also called the Hyesan–Manp'o Ch'ŏngnyŏn Line after the only completed stage of three planned stages, is an electrified standard-gauge secondary trunk line of the Korean State Railway in Chagang and Ryanggang Provinces ...

, connecting Manp'o in the west with Hoeryŏng in the east to make use of parts of existing lines where possible to reduce the amount of new construction needed.북부 철길 건설
/ref> Construction of this line was to take place in three stages. The first stage, completed in 1988, extended the former Unbong Line to

Hyesan Hyesan () is a city in the northern part of Ryanggang province of North Korea. It is a hub of river transportation as well as a product distribution centre. It is also the administrative centre of Ryanggang Province. As of 2008, the population o ...

, resulting in the current Pukpu Line; the second stage was to have connected Hyesan to

Musan Musan County is a county in central North Hamgyong province, North Korea. It borders the People's Republic of China to the north, across the Tumen River. It is divided into one ''ŭp'', six labor districts, and fifteen ''ri''. The county sea ...

on the

Musan Line The Musan Line is an electrified standard-gauge secondary trunk line of the Korean State Railway in Musan and Puryŏng counties, North Hamgyŏng Province, North Korea, running from Komusan on the Hambuk Line to Musan, where it connects to t ...

, and the third stage was to have connected Musan to Hoeryŏng 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 ...

. Construction of the second stage was to have made use of parts of existing lines in several places. From Hyesan to Wiyŏn it was to have shared the existing standard gauge trackage of the

Paektusan Ch'ŏngnyŏn Line The Paektusan Ch'ŏngnyŏn Line is an electrified standard-gauge secondary mainline of the Korean State Railway running from Kilju on the P'yŏngra Line to Hyesan on the Pukbunaeryuk Line; it connects to the narrow gauge Paengmu Line at Paeg'a ...

. The plan also included the conversion to standard gauge of four sections of existing narrow gauge lines: from Wiyŏn to

, the existing section of the Samjiyŏn line was to have been regauged; from Karim to Poch'ŏn the existing section of the Poch'ŏn Line was to have been regauged, from Rimyŏngsu to Motka, the remaining portion of the Samjiyŏn Line was to have been converted, and from Hŭngam to

the existing section of the narrow gauge

Paengmu Line The Paengmu Line is a partially electrified narrow gauge line of the Korean State Railway running from Paeg'am on the Paektusan Ch'ŏngnyŏn Line to Musan on the Musan Line, in the Ryanggang and North Hamgyŏng provinces of North Korea.Kokub ...

was to have been regauged. Then, new track was to be laid between Poch'ŏn and Rimyŏngsu and between Motka and Hŭngam to connect the regauged sections into a complete line. Although some initial work was started on the second stage, the DPRK's financial crisis of the 1990s led to the project being suspended.

Route

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

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

; an orange background indicates that section is non-electrified narrow gauge.

References

{{coord missing, North Korea Railway lines in North Korea 2 ft 6 in gauge railways in North Korea