The Yangsi Line was a non-electrified standard-gauge 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 ...

in North P'yŏngan Province,

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 Namsi (Yŏmju) on the

P'yŏngŭi Line The P'yŏngŭi Line is an electrified main trunk line of the Korean State Railway of North Korea, running from P'yŏngyang to Sinŭiju on the border with China.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), It is the main co ...

to South Sinŭiju, likewise on the P'yŏngŭi Line, with which it was merged in 1964.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō),

History

The privately owned Tasado Railway opened a line from South Sinŭiju

interlocking In railway signalling, an interlocking is an arrangement of signal apparatus that prevents conflicting movements through an arrangement of tracks such as junctions or crossings. The signalling appliances and tracks are sometimes collectively ...

on the Kyŏngŭi Line of Chosen Government Railway (''Sentetsu'') to Tasado Port via Yangsi, called the

Tasado Line The Tasado Line is a non-electrified standard-gauge secondary line of the Korean State Railway in North P'yǒngan Province, North Korea, running from Ryongch'ŏn on the P'yŏngŭi Line to Tasado Port.Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgu ...

, on 31 October 1939, to provide the

Oji Paper Company is a Japanese manufacturer of paper products. In 2012 the company was the third largest company in the global forest, paper and packaging industry. The company's stock is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the stock is constituent of the ...

(today the

Sinuiju Chemical Fibre Complex Sinŭiju (''Sinŭiju-si'', ; known before 1925 in English as Yeng Byen City) is a city in North Korea which faces Dandong, Liaoning, China across the international border of the Yalu River. It is the capital of North P'yŏngan province. Part of ...

) of Sinŭiju a means of shipping its products out via the port at Tasado, as the

Yalu River The Yalu River, known by Koreans as the Amrok River or Amnok River, is a river on the border between North Korea and China. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border betwe ...

freezes in winter. Then, on 29 October 1940 the Tasado Railway opened a second line, called the Yangsi Line, from Yangsi to Namsi, likewise on Sentetsu's Kyŏngŭi Line, to make a southern connection with the mainline to P'yŏngyang and Kyŏngsŏng. On 1 April 1943, Sentetsu nationalised the Sinuiju–Yangsi section of the line, both Sentetsu's new line, as well as the Tasado Railway's truncated line, kept the "Yangsi Line" name; the Tasado Line was thus shortened to its present-day condition. After the

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 ...

the line was within the territory of the DPRK, and was nationalised by the

Provisional People’s Committee for North Korea The People's Committee of North Korea ( Chosŏn'gŭl: 북조선인민위원회) was a provisional government governing the Northern portion of the Korean Peninsula from 1947 until 1948. Established on 21 February 1947 as the successor of the ...

along with all other railways in the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

zone of occupation on 10 August 1946, to create the Korean State Railway (''Kukch'ŏl'');Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), at that time, Sentetsu's and the Tasado Railway's sections of the Yangsi Line were re-merged, to return the line to its original route from South Sinŭiju to Namsi. Since the distance between South Sinŭiju and Namsi via the Yangsi Line was nearly shorter than via the original routing of the P'yŏngŭi Line via Paengma, Kukch'ŏl decided to rearrange the lines; thus, the Yangsi Line was made part of the P'yŏngŭi Line, and the original South Sinŭiju–Paengma–Yangsi section was separated to become the

Paengma Line The Paengma Line is a non-electrified standard-gauge secondary line of the Korean State Railway in North P'yŏngan Province, North Korea, running from Yŏmju on the P'yŏngŭi Line to South Sinŭiju, likewise on the P'yŏngui Line.Kokubu, Ha ...

in 1964. Electrification of the former Yangsi Line was completed in the same year. Yangsi and Namsi stations were given their current names, Ryongch'ŏn and Yŏmju respectively, sometime after 1964.

Route

References

Ministry of Railways A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructure. ...

(1937), 鉄道停車場一覧. 昭和12年10月1日現在(The List of the Stations), p485 {{coord missing, North Korea Railway lines in Korea Railway lines in North Korea Standard gauge railways in North Korea Sentetsu railway lines