Pyongnam Line

The P'yŏngnam Line was originally built as two separate lines by two separate railway companies - the '''P'yŏngnam Line' built by the Chosen Government Railway (Sentetsu), and the 'Onch'ŏn Line''' built by the privately owned Chosen P'yŏngan Railway. P'yŏngnam Line, 1909–1945 In September 1909, Sentetsu began construction of a rail line running between P'yŏngyang and Chinnamp'o (nowadays Namp'o). but a year later was dismantled and moved south, becoming today's Ch'ilgol Station; Taep'o Station, from P'yŏngyang Station between Choch'on and Taep'yŏng Stations in Man'gyŏngdae-guyŏk, P'yŏngyang, was opened on 10 January 1944 and subsequently closed; and Pot'onggang Station on 21 March 1944. Onch'ŏn Line, 1938–1945 On 8 July 1938, the Chosen P'yŏngan Railway opened the '''Onch'ŏn Line''' from Chinnamp'o, terminus of Sentetsu's P'yŏngnam Line, to Ryonggang Onch'ŏn, Since 1945 After the partition of Korea, the two lines were within the Soviet zone of occupation, and both lines - together with all others within the Soviet zone - were nationalised by the Provisional People’s Committee for North Korea on 10 August 1946, and operated by the Korean State Railway following the establishment of the DPRK, which merged the Onch'ŏn Line into the P'yŏngnam Line. The line was heavily damaged during the Korean War, but was subsequently rebuilt and expanded, with the construction of Sinnamp'o Station to serve glass factories and shipbuilders located there. The mainline between P'yŏngyang and Namp'o was electrified in December 1979. After the completion of the West Sea Barrage in 1986, a new rail line, the Sŏhae Kammun Line was opened, running from Sillyŏngri on the P'yŏngnam Line to Ch'ŏlgwang on the Ŭnnyul Line. ==Modernisation==

On 21 October 2014 a groundbreaking ceremony for the Sŭngri ("Victory") project to modernise the P'yŏngnam Line from Namp'o to P'yŏngyang and the P'yŏngdŏk Line from P'yŏngyang to Chaedong was held. The project, supported by Russia, is intended to form the first stage of a larger-scale cooperation with the Russian Railways as part of a 20-year development project that would modernise around of the North Korean rail network, and would include the construction of a north-south freight bypass around P'yŏngyang. The overall project cost is estimated to be around US $25 billion, and it is expected that exports of coal, rare-earth and non-ferrous metals from the DPRK to Russia will provide the funding for the project. ==Services==

Freight A wide array of industries along the mainline of the P'yŏngnam Line are all served by freight trains, and import-export traffic through Namp'o Port - North Korea's largest in terms of traffic - is also moved by rail along this line. The Kŭmsŏng Tractor Factory at Kangsŏ produces tractors and other agricultural equipment for both domestic use and export, using structural steel supplied from the Sŏngjin Steel Works and the Ch'ŏllima Steel Complex and plate steel from the Hwanghae Iron & Steel Complex. All freight heading to and from the Taean Machine Complex located in Taean on the adjoining Taean Line moves via the P'yŏngnam Line. Steel arrives there from the Kimchaek Iron & Steel Complex, the Hwanghae Iron & Steel Complex and the Ch'ŏllima Steel Complex, nonferrous metals from the Munp'yŏng Smelter, and imported materials and parts unloaded from ships at Namp'o Port. There is a significant amount of short-distance freight traffic between Kangsŏn and the Posan Line via Kangsŏ: the April 13 Ironworks, located at Posan, produces pig iron that is all shipped to the Ch'ŏllima Steel Complex; the ironworks receives some of its raw material via rail, as well. Other rail-served industries on the line include, among others, the P'yŏngyang Wheat Flour Factory at Ch'ilgol in Samhŭng-dong, Man'gyŏngdae-guyŏk in P'yŏngyang; and the Pyeonghwa Motors factory and the Ch'ŏnji Lubricant Factory at Sinnamp'o. There are also numerous rail-served factories on the connecting lines. ==Route==

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