West Chosen Central Railway

West Chosen Central Railway
Overview
Native name	서선중앙철도 (Sŏsŏn Chung'ang Ch'ŏldo) 西鮮中央鉄道 (Sōsen Chūō Tetsudō)
Route map Legend Pyeongyang Colliery Line(Sentetsu) 0.0 Seungho-ri Mandal-li 8.0 Hwacheon Geumok 15.9 Songga 22.3 Samdeung 25.7 Heungnyeong 29.6 Seongnŭm 38.1 Pyeongnam Gangdong 46.5 Baegwŏn 53.0 Sundeok 55.4 Pyeongnam Seongcheon 62.4 Samdeok Gyeongwon Line(Sentetsu) ↑ to Sentetsu 1 April 1944 68.6 0.0 Sinseongcheon Gyeongwon Line(Sentetsu) 7.4 Pungpyeong 13.1 Wonchang 16.7 0.0 Kujeong 4.4 Jaedong 19.2 Songnam 27.7 Gachang 36.1 Bukchang 42.0 Okcheon Guhyeon Hoean 48.4 Jangan

The West Chosen Central Railway (Japanese: 西鮮中央鉄道, Sōsen Chūō Tetsudō; Korean: 서선중앙철도, Sŏsŏn Chung'ang Ch'ŏldo), was a privately owned railway company in Japanese-occupied Korea.

Route

The West Chosen Central Railway opened its mainline from Seungho-ri to Jangan in several staged between 1939 and 1945. The first section, 29.6 km (18.4 mi) from Seungho-ri to Seongneum, was opened on 29 June 1939,^[1] followed five months later by an 8.5 km (5.3 mi) extension to Pyeongnam Gangdong.^[2]

On 1 October 1941 a second line was opened, isolated from the first, made up of a 36.1 km (22.4 mi) mainline running from Sinseongcheon to Bukchang with a 4.4 km (2.7 mi) branchline from Gujeong to Jaedong.^[3] The two sections of mainline remained isolated from each other until 18 September 1942, when the gap between Pyeongnam Gangdong and Sinseongcheon, a distance of 30.3 km (18.8 mi) was closed.^[4] The newly built line did not long remain part of the West Chosen railway, as on 1 April 1944 the line from Seungho-ri all the way to Sinseongcheon was nationalised by Sentetsu and incorporated into the Pyeongyang Colliery Line.^[5]

The West Chosen Central Railway nevertheless continued expanding its truncated mainline. The first of these extensions was a 5.9 km (3.7 mi) stretch from Bukchang to Okcheon opened on 28 December 1944,^[6] which was followed by a second extension, 6.4 km (4.0 mi) to Jangan, opened on 15 May 1945.^[7]

After the end of the Pacific War and subsequent partition of Korea, the line was within the territory of the DPRK, and was nationalised by the Provisional People’s Committee for North Korea along with all other railways in the Soviet zone of occupation on 10 August 1946, becoming part of the Korean State Railway.^[8]

Rolling Stock

As traffic volumes increased significantly through the Pacific War, the West Chosen Central Railway found itself needing more power. As a result, eight Mikasa class 2-8-2 steam locomotives were bought in 1943 and 1944. More were needed, but as the capacity of locomotive builders in Japan and Korea was already being stretched, Mikaro class locomotives were borrowed from the South Manchuria Railway (Mantetsu) to alleviate the power shortage.

References