North Korea has deployed about 10 diesel locomotives reserved for wartime use to ease a passenger rail transportation crisis caused by the isolated country’s chronic power shortage, according to sources inside the country.
North Korean trains, whose locomotives are usually powered by hydroelectricity, have long been suffering from severe power shortages.
But a recent decision by authorities to use diesel locomotives for passenger travel has breathed life into some routes between major cities, sources said.
This marks the first time that the diesel locomotives, which are 30 to 40 years old, have been deployed in peacetime for passenger rail service, they said.
“Diesel locomotives are operating on the railroad connecting Pyongyang and Musan or the Tumen River [and they] started to operate on the railroad connecting Sinuiju and Huicheon, in late March,” a Sinuiju resident, who declined to be identified, told RFA.
Sinuiju is a town in northwest North Korea that borders China, while Huicheon is a city in the southern part of Chagang Province in the central part of the country.
The trips take about 10 hours each one-way, and the fare is 20,000 North Korean won, or about U.S. $2.50 at the unofficial exchange rate, the source said.
“The train service from Pyongyang to Sinuiju is operating, attaching three to four passenger coaches to the end of international train which operates between Pyongyang and Dandong or Beijing in China,” the source in Sinuiju said.
A one-way ticket from Pyongyang to Sinuiju costs 120 Chinese yuan (U.S. $19), he said.
Since February, diesel locomotives have been used on the rail routes between Pyongyang and Musan, a mining city of around 200,000 people in North Hamyong province which borders China, as well as between Pyongyang and the Tumen River, a Pyongyang resident told RFA’s Korean Service.
Before the diesel locomotives came into operation, it used to take 10 to 20 days to travel between Pyongyang and Musan or the Tumen River, which serves as part of the boundary between North Korea, China and Russia, but now it takes two or so days, the source said.
The fare on the diesel-powered trains that run between Pyongyang and Musan or the Tumen River costs 45,000 North Korean won (U.S. $5.60), the source said, about 30 times more expensive than the fare for the same routes on trains with electric locomotives.
Road travel
Diesel locomotives are not being used on routes between the capital and other major cities, such as Kaesong and Wonsan, which have good roadways, sources said.
Kaesong is a city in North Hwanghae Province in southern North Korea near an industrial region close to the border with South Korea, while Wonsan is a major port city and naval base in Kangwon Province on the shore of the East Sea or Sea of Japan.
“Kaesong has a relatively good roadway, so [people] usually use cars” for travel, said the Sinuiju resident.
But “because there are not enough diesel locomotives, it is difficult to deploy diesel locomotives on all lines,” the source added.
The diesel locomotives will be taken out of operation if power production by the country’s hydroelectric plants improves, the sources said.
Reported by Joon Ho Kim of RFA’s Korean Service. Translated by Yunju Kim. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.