Kanggye Line
Overview
Native name	강계선(江界線)
Owner	Korean State Railway
Locale	Chagang
Termini	Kanggye Rangrim
Stations	13
Service
Type	Heavy rail, Regional rail
History
Opened	1948
Technical
Line length	56.8 km (35.3 mi)
Number of tracks	Single track
Track gauge	762 mm (2 ft 6 in)
Electrification	1500 V DC Catenary
Route map Manp'o Line to Manp'o Changja River 0.0 Kanggye Pukch'ŏn River Sin'ganggye Manp'o Line to Sunch'ŏn Changja River (bridge appx 255 m (837 ft)) Namch'ŏn (bridge appx 70 m (230 ft)) factory; engine shops 1.8 Nammun Kanggye Tractor Factory Kanggye Tractor Factory 4.9 Tokpu Closed (bridge appx 75 m (246 ft)) (bridge appx 30 m (98 ft)) 8.9 Hyangha (bridge appx 55 m (180 ft)) Kanggye Ch'ŏngnyŏn Power Station 14.0 Sŭngbang (bridge appx 45 m (148 ft)) (bridge appx 90 m (300 ft)) 17.4 Kongbuk (bridge appx 50 m (160 ft)) (bridge appx 50 m (160 ft)) (bridge appx 75 m (246 ft)) 21.6 O-il (bridge appx 45 m (148 ft)) 24.0 P'yŏngri Closed 28.4 Hwangp'o switchback 33.5 Simrip'yŏng (bridge appx 45 m (148 ft)) Namch'ŏn Sangsimrip'yŏng Closed 41.3 Sangsinwŏn 46.7 Hasinwŏn (bridge appx 70 m (230 ft)) (bridge appx 55 m (180 ft)) 56.9 Rangrim

The Kanggye Line is an electrified narrow-gauge line of the Korean State Railway in North Korea running from Kanggye on the Manp'o Line to Rangrim,^[1] primarily hauling forest products.^[2] An interesting feature of the line is a significant switchback west of Rangrim.

History

The Kanggye Line was built by the Korean State Railway in the late 1940s to aid in the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Changjin River in the Rangrim mountains;^[2] construction of the dam had been started by the Japanese in 1937.^[3] Following an order issued in September 1999 by Kim Jong-il, electrification of the line at 1500 V DC was completed on 5 October 2000.^[2]

Route

A yellow background in the "Distance" box indicates that section of the line is not electrified; a pink background indicates that section is 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge; an orange background indicates that section is non-electrified narrow gauge.

References