The Gyeongdong Line (慶東線, ''Keitō-sen'') was a narrow gauge railway line of the

Chōsen Railway The Chōsen 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 T ...

(''Chōtetsu'') of colonial-era Korea, in

North Gyeongsang Province North Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상북도, translit=Gyeongsangbuk-do, ) is a province in eastern South Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Gyeongsang province, and remained a province of Korea until the ...

History

In January 1916, the privately owned Chōsen Light Railway began work on a new rail line from Daegu on the

Chōsen Government Railway The ( ko, 조선총독부 철도, Joseon Chongdokbu Cheoldo) was a state-owned railway company in Chōsen. It was also colloquially known by the abbreviated name . It was the operational division of the ( ko, 철도국, ''Cheoldoguk''), which ...

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 ones in the country. It was constructed in 1905, connecting Seoul with Busan via Suwon, Daejeon, and Daegu. ...

towards

Pohang Pohang () is a city in the province of North Gyeongsang, South Korea, and a main seaport in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region. The built-up area of Pohang is located on the alluvium of the mouth of the Hyeongsan River. The city is divided into two ...

. The first section, from Daegu to

Hayang Hayang is a town, or '' eup'' in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a ...

, was opened on 1 November 1917. Over the following year, three new sections were opened, with Pohang being reached 364 days after the opening of the first section. On 20 May 1918, a extension from Hayang to Geumho was opened, followed by the segment from Geumho to Seoak on 1 September, and the final stretch to Pohang was opened on 31 October. Work on a second line began around the same time that the main line was completed, and the first section, from

Gyeongju Gyeongju ( ko, 경주, ), historically known as ''Seorabeol'' ( ko, 서라벌, ), is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province in South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong ...

Bulguksa Bulguksa is located on the slopes of Mount Toham (Jinheon-dong, Gyeongju city, North Gyeongsang province, South Korea). It is a head temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism and encompasses six National treasures of South Korea, including ...

, was opened on 14 January 1919. Five months later, on 25 June 1919, a extension of the main line from Pohang to

Haksan Haksan Publishing Co., Ltd. ( ko, 학산문화사, translit=Haksan Munhwasa, lit=Haksan Culture (company)), a subsidiary of Daewon Media, is a South Korean publisher, famous for its large selections of domestic and imported comics (manga/ manhwa) ...

was opened, and on 27 September of the same year, the Chōsen Light Railway was renamed Chōsen Central Railway Co. Ltd. Nothing changed until two years later, when the line from Bulguksa to

Ulsan Ulsan (), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighboring ...

was completed on 25 October 1921; on 1 November, the Daegu–Haksan line was given the name Gupo Line, and the Gyeongju–Ulsan line was named Ulsan Line. On 1 September 1923, the Chōsen Central Railway merged with five other privately owned railway companies to form the Chōsen Railway, and at the same time, the Gupo Line and the Ulsan Line were merged, collectively being named the Gyeongdong Line. On 1 July 1928, the Chōsen Government Railway purchased the Gyeongdong Line and renamed it

Donghae Jungbu Line Donghae may refer to: * East Sea, the South Korean name of the Sea of Japan ** Donghae Expressway, the name of the expressway in South Korea ** Donghae Line, a railway line in Busan, South Korea * Donghae City, in South Korea ** ''Donghae''-cl ...

.朝鮮總督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa No. 224, 3 May 1938

Services

Initially, only mixed trains, with both passenger and freight cars, operated on the line; in 1922, there was one daily round trip between Daegu and

Yeongcheon Yeongcheon () is a city in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Yeongcheon is located southeast of Seoul, in the southeast of North Gyeongsang Province. It is on the Gyeongbu Expressway linking Seoul and Busan, and is also the junction of t ...

, four daily round trips between Yeongcheon and Pohang, four between Pohang and Haksan, eight between Seoak and Gyeongju, and three between Gyeongju and Ulsan. Dedicated passenger trains were introduced after the creation of the Chōsen Railway, with a single Daegu–Pohang return service being added to the schedule in 1923, followed by four return services between Daegu and Ulsan in 1926.

Route

References

{{ChosenRyLines Rail transport in South Korea Railway lines in Korea under Japanese rule Defunct railway companies of Japan Defunct railway companies of Korea Chōsen Railway