The Chungbuk Line () is a railway line serving North Chungcheong Province in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. The line connects Jochiwon on the

Gyeongbu Line The Gyeongbu line (''Gyeongbuseon'') is a railway line in South Korea and is considered to be the most important and one of the oldest in the country. It was constructed in 1905, connecting Seoul with Busan via Suwon, Daejeon, and Daegu. It is ...

to Bongyang on the Jungang Line, serving the major cities of

Cheongju Cheongju (; ) is the capital and largest list of cities in South Korea, city of North Chungcheong Province in South Korea. The 'Cheong' in the name of Chungcheong Province is the Cheong of Cheongju. History Cheongju has been an important prov ...

and

Chungju Chungju () is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in North Chungcheong Province, South Korea. Uamsan is a mountain located within the outskirts of the city. The city is famous for the annual martial arts festival held in October. Al ...

''en route.'' Cheongju International Airport is located near the rail line.

History

Prewar

The first section of the line was opened by the privately owned Chōsen Central Railway in 1921, which became part of the Chōsen Railway (''Chōtetsu'') in 1923. Chōtetsu then continued to extend the line until 1928 to Chungju as follows: Plans existed to continue the line from Chungju to Yeongwol, but after the end of Japanese rule this plan was abandoned until 1949, after which the extension was built as the Korean National Railroad's Taebaek Line. In the November 1942 timetable, the last issued prior to the start of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...

, Chōtetsu operated the following schedule of local passenger services ("R" indicates that train was operated by railcar):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)

Postwar

Like the other private railways this line was also nationalized after the independence of Korea. The rest section of the line was opened on January 10, 1959.

Upgrade

The double-track construction began on October 20, 1975, and on October 17, 1980, 113.2 km between Jochiwon and Bongyang was double-tracked. During the double-track construction, some sections were relocated. The entire line was electrified on 30 March 2005. On September 1, 2010, the South Korean government announced a strategic plan to reduce travel times from Seoul to 95% of the country to under 2 hours by 2020. As part of the plan, the Chungbuk Line is to be upgraded for 230 km/h and may see KTX service. The movie '' Peppermint Candy'' was shot near Gongjeon station.

Route

Original route

References

Bibliography

* Japanese Government Railways, (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, p 507 {{ChosenRyLines Railway lines in South Korea Airport rail links Railway lines opened in 1921 Chōsen Railway Railway lines in Korea under Japanese rule