Kumgangsan Electric Railway

Kŭmgangsan Electric Railway Co. Ltd.

Native name	금강산 전기 철도 주식회사 (Korean) 金剛山電氣鐵道株式會社 (Japanese)
Romanized name	Kŭmgangsan Chŏn'gi Ch'ŏldo Chusikhoesa(Korean) Kongōsan Denki Tetsudō Kabushiki Kaisha (Japanese)
Company type	Kabushiki kaisha
Industry	Railway, electric utility
Founded	16 December 1919
Founder	Taminosuke Kume
Defunct	1 January 1942
Fate	Merged
Successor	Kyŏngsŏng Electric Co.
Headquarters	655-pŏnji, Oech'ŏn-ri, Ch'ŏrwŏn-gun, Kangwŏn-do (HQ) 4-Banchi, Nishi-Ginza 7-Chōme, Chūō-ku, Tōkyō (branch) Wangsim-dong, Sŏngdong-gu, Kyŏngsŏng (branch), Korea

Kŭmgangsan Electric Line
Naegŭmgang Station on the Kŭmgangsan Electric Railway
Overview
Other name(s)	Kŭmgangsan Line (금강산선, 金剛山線)
Native name	금강산전기선 (金剛山電氣線)
Status	Closed
Owner	Kŭmgangsan Electric Railway Co. Ltd. (1924−1942) Kyŏngsŏng Electric Co. Ltd. (1942–1945) Korean State Railway (1945−1950)
Locale	Gangwon (South Korea) Kangwon (North Korea)
Termini	Cheorwon Naegŭmgang
Stations	28
Service
Type	Heavy rail, Passenger/Freight Regional rail
Operator(s)	Kŭmgangsan Electric Railway Co. Ltd. (1924−1942) Kyŏngsŏng Electric Co. Ltd. (1942–1945) Korean State Railway (1945−1950)
Depot(s)	Ch'ŏrwŏn
History
Opened	Stages between 1924–1931
Closed	1950
Technical
Line length	116.6 km (72.5 mi)
Number of tracks	Single track
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	1.5 kV DC Overhead lines
Route map Legend Kyŏngwŏn Line 0.0 Ch'ŏrwŏn Kyŏngwŏn Line 1.6 Sayo 3.2 East Ch'ŏrwŏn 6.0 Dongsong 10.3 Yangji 14.2 Igil 17.5 Chŏngyŏn 21.5 Yugok 24.5 Kŭmgok 28.8 Kimhwa 33.0 Kwangsam ↑Ch'ŏrwŏn-gun ROK–DPRK Border 36.3 Haso 40.1 Haengjŏng ↑P'yŏnggang/Kimhwa↓ 45.8 Paegyang 51.0 Kŭmsŏng 54.0 Kyŏngp'a 59.6 T'an'gam ↑Kimhwa/Changdo↓ 65.6 South Ch'angdo 67.6 Ch'angdo 75.3 Kisŏng Closed in 1944 82.7 Hyŏlli Closed in 1944 90.0 Top'a Closed in 1944 94.7 Hwagye Closed in 1944 99.3 Oryang Closed in 1944 ↑Changdo/Kŏmgang↓ 104.8 Tanballyŏng Closed in 1944 108.0 Malhwiri Closed in 1944 112.4 Pyŏngmu Closed in 1944 116.6 Naegŭmgang Closed in 1944

The Kŭmgangsan Electric Railway, later known as the Kŭmgangsan Line, was a railway line that formerly ran between Ch'ŏrwŏn to Naegŭmgang, on the inner side of Mount Kŭmgang.^[1] At Ch'ŏrwŏn, the line connected to the Kyŏngwŏn Line of the Chosen Government Railway (Sentetsu)^[2] the Kyŏngwŏn Line was split between Korail's Gyeongwon Line in South Korea and the Kangwŏn Line of the Korean State Railway.^[3]

Similar in many respects to the Alishan Forest Railway in Taiwan,^[4] the railway was built with the aim of turning the Mount Kŭmgang area into a major tourist destination.^[1] Mount Kŭmgang had already been one of the Korean Peninsula's most famous tourist destinations, but the terrain and location made access very difficult; the opening of the Kŭmgangsan Electric Railway overcame this, and turned the area into a booming tourist spot.^[5]

Originally opened in 1924 by the Kŭmgangsan Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (Korean: 금강산전기철도 주식회사 Kŭmgangsan Chŏn'gi Ch'ŏldo Chusikhoesa; Japanese: 金剛山電気鉄道株式会社 Kongōsan Denki Tetsudō Kabushiki Kaisha), the 116.6 km (72.5 mi)^[1] line held the distinction of being the first^[1] as well as the longest electrified mainline railway in Korea,^[6] Hydroelectric power from dams constructed along the line was used to supply power to the railway,^[1] which made use of Japan's latest technological capabilities of the time.^[5] The company's headquarters were located in Oech'ŏn-ri in Ch'ŏrwŏn-gun, and it had branch offices in Tokyo in Japan, as well as in Gyeongseong (Seoul).^[4]

After the end of the Pacific War and the subsequent partition of Korea, the entirety of the line, being north of the 38th parallel, was taken over by North Korea's Korean State Railway, which called it the Kŭmgangsan Line, operating it until the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950.^[7] The line was destroyed during the war, and the ceasefire line split the line between North and South Korea, and it remains abandoned ever since.