The Paech'ŏn Line is a partially electrified standard-gauge secondary railway 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 P'yŏngyang. The current Minister of Railways is Chang Jun Song. History 1945–195 ...

South Hwanghae Province South Hwanghae Province (Hwanghaenamdo; , lit. "south Yellow Sea province") is a province in western North Korea. The province was formed in 1954 when the former Hwanghae Province was split into North and South Hwanghae. The provincial capital ...

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 ...

, running from Changbang on the

Hwanghae Ch'ŏngnyŏn Line The Hwanghae Ch'ŏngnyŏn Line is an electrified standard-gauge secondary line of the Korean State Railway in the North and South Hwanghae provinces of North Korea, running from Sariwŏn to Haeju.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sam ...

to Ŭnbit.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō),

History

By the end of 1930, the Chosen Railway (abbreviated ''Chōtetsu''), the largest privately owned railway in colonial Korea, had extended its Hwanghae Line network to run from

Sariwŏn Sariwŏn () is the capital of North Hwanghae Province, North Korea. Population The city's population as of 2008 is 307,764. Administrative divisions Sariwŏn is divided into 31 '' tong'' (neighbourhoods) and 9 '' ri'' (villages): Healthcar ...

to Sugyo in the west and to

Haeju Haeju () is a city located in South Hwanghae Province near Haeju Bay in North Korea. It is the administrative centre of South Hwanghae Province. As of 2008, the population of the city is estimated to be 273,300. At the beginning of the 20th centur ...

in the south, completing the latter line in December of that year. Chōtetsu then began building eastwards from Haeju to create a southern connection to the Kyŏngŭi Line, the state-owned Chosen Government Railway's (abbreviated ''Sentetsu'') mainline from Kyŏngsŏng to Sinŭiju and

Andong Andong () is a city in South Korea, and the capital of North Gyeongsang Province. It is the largest city in the northern part of the province with a population of 167,821 as of October 2010. The Nakdong River flows through the city. Andong is a m ...

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym "Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East ( Outer ...

, opening the first section of a new narrow-gauge line, from East Haeju to Yŏn'an, on 21 December 1931.朝鮮總督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa Nr. 1492, 26 December 1931 The second section was opened on 1 September 1932, running from Yŏn'an across the

Ryesong River The Ryesŏng River is a river of North Korea. It flows from north to south, emptying into the Yellow Sea by Ganghwa Island, just west of the mouth of the River Imjin. See also *Rivers of Korea *Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea is a marginal se ...

to connect to the Kyŏngŭi Line at Tosŏng (later renamed Kaep'ung). A extension west from East Haeju to Haeju was opened on 1 July 1933.

Japanese Government Railways The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national railway system directly operated by the Japanese Ministry of Railways ( ja, 鉄道省, Tetsudō-shō, ) until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Rai ...

(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), pp. 509~510 Chōtetsu sold the Hwanghae Line network to Sentetsu on 1 April 1944, which absorbed the split the network into separate lines, with the Haeju—Tosŏng line becoming known as the Tohae Line.朝鮮總督府官報 (The Public Journal of the Governor-General of Korea), Shōwa Nr. 5143, 29 March 1944 Following the end of the Pacific War and the subsequent

partition of Korea The division of Korea began with the defeat of Japan in World War II. During the war, the Allied leaders considered the question of Korea's future after Japan's surrender in the war. The leaders reached an understanding that Korea would be l ...

, most of the Tohae Line was located in the US zone of occupation that later became

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 Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, with the line being divided along the 38th Parallel between Changbang and Kalsan, and the

Korean National Railroad The Korea Railroad Corporation (Korean: 한국철도공사, Hanja: ), branded as KORAIL (코레일, officially changed to in November 2019), is the national railway operator in South Korea. Currently, KORAIL is a public corporation, manage ...

operated passenger trains on the line between Tosŏng and Ch'ŏngdan until 1950. The line was heavily damaged during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

, and the destruction of the Ryesong River bridge left the line truncated at Paech'ŏn.North Korea Geographic Information: Transportation Geography - Paech'ŏn Line (in Korean)
/ref> The truncated line ended up in

after the Korean Armistice, becoming part of the

which gave the line its current name of Paech'ŏn Line. The Korean State Railway completed the conversion of the Haeju—Paech'ŏn line to standard gauge in 1971, at the same time adding an extension from Paech'ŏn to the current terminus, Ŭnbit. Electrification of the section from Changbang to Ch'ŏngdan was completed by April 1982.North Korea Geographic Information: Transportation Geography - Hwanghae Ch'ŏngnyŏn Line (in Korean)
/ref>

Route

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

Tŏktal Line

Opened in 1931 by Chōtetsu. Not electrified; closed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paechon Line Railway lines in North Korea Standard gauge railways in North Korea