The Kangwà Ân Line is a electrified standard-gauge trunk line of the Korean State Railway of North Korea, connecting Kowà Ân on the P'yà Ângra Line to P'yà Ânggang, providing an eastâÂÂwest connection between the P'yà Ângra and Ch'à Ângnyà Ân Ich'à Ân lines.
Although the line continues south across the Korean Demilitarized Zone, it is non-operational south of P'yà Ânggang.
The ruling gradient is 25â°, the minimum curve radius is ; there are 94 bridges with a total length of , and 18 tunnels with a total length of . There are 23 stations on the line, with an average distance between stations of . Wà Ânsan Station is the most important station on the line; in addition to its passenger infrastructure, locomotive and freight car maintenance facilities are located there.
On 5 August 2015, South Korean President Park Geun-hye attended a ceremony launching work on the reconstruction of the BaengmagojiâÂÂWoljeong-ri section of Korail's Gyeongwon Line, which has been closed since the Korean War, as part of events marking the 70th anniversary of the partition of Korea. The works are to begin in October and are expected to be finished by 2017; the US $129 million project is being funded by the Unification Ministry. Park also stated her hope that the remaining section across the DMZ would be rebuilt soon, which would re-establish the old Kyà Ângwà Ân Line connecting Seoul to Wà Ânsan.
For the original line's history and other information prior to 1945, see Gyeongwon Line (1911âÂÂ1945)
The Kangwà Ân Line's Wà Ânsan-P'yà Ânggang section was opened, along with the rest of the Kyà Ângwà Ân Line from Seoul to Wà Ânsan, on 16 August 1914 (the Wà ÂnsanâÂÂRyongjiwà Ân section was completed on 21 August 1913, PokkyeâÂÂKà Âmbullang on 25 September 1913, KosanâÂÂRyongjiwà Ân on 21 October 1913, Kà ÂmbullangâÂÂSep'o on 21 June 1914, and Sep'oâÂÂKosan on 16 August 1914, forming an important eastâÂÂwest transversal line.
The Wà ÂnsanâÂÂKowà Ân section was built as part of the Hamgyà Âng Line of the Chosen Government Railway (Sentetsu); this line ran on the routing of Wà ÂnsanâÂÂKowà Ân (now part of the Kangwà Ân Line), Kowà ÂnâÂÂCh'à Ângjin (now part of the P'yà Ângra Line), and Ch'à ÂngjinâÂÂSangsambong (now part of the Hambuk Line). The Wà ÂnsanâÂÂKowà Ân section was completed in two parts: Wà ÂnsanâÂÂOngp'yà Âng (at the time called Munch'à Ân Station) on 1 August 1915, and Munch'à ÂnâÂÂKowà ÂnâÂÂKà Âmya on 21 July 1916; the Kowà ÂnâÂÂKà Âmya section is now part of the P'yà Ângra Line.
The south end of what is now the Kangwà Ân line was where the first railway electrification projects in Korea took place. The first of these was the privately owned Kà Âmgangsan Electric Railway, which was first opened in 1924 from Ch'à Ârwà Ân to Kimhwa, and by 1931 had been extended all the way to Naegà Âmgang. Also in the 1930s, Sentetsu, together with the South Manchuria Railway, was developing plans to create an electrified railway all the way from Pusan in Korea to Xinjing, capital of Manchukuo. The first stage of this plan was the electrification of the Kyà Ângwà Ân, Kyà Ânggyà Âng and Kyà Ângin lines, and in March 1940, the Imperial Diet budgeted 3.6 million Yen for electrification equipment for this plan. Electrification of the PokkyeâÂÂKosan section of the Kyà Ângwà Ân line began in December 1940; it was completed and commissioned on 27 March 1944, and commercial electric operations commenced on 1 April 1944.
After the partition of Korea following the end of the Pacific War, the Kyà Ângwà Ân Line was split along the 38th parallel between the stations of Hantangang and Ch'osà Ângri, and the Korean State Railway, established following the nationalisation of all railways in North Korea in 1946, merged the truncated Wà ÂnsanâÂÂCh'osà Ângri section of the Kyà Ângwà Ân Line with the Wà ÂnsanâÂÂKowà Ân section of the former Hamgyà Âng Line to create the Kangwà Ân Line. Following the end of the Korean War and the establishment of the Military Demarcation Line, the section south of Wà Âljà Ângri ended up in South Korea, where the Korean National Railroad reabsorbed it into the Kyà Ângwà Ân Line. The section from P'yà Ânggang to Kagok has been closed since the end of the war, and since then the line has its current name, from the two termini: P'yà Ânggang and Wà Ânsan. The line was severely damaged during the Korean War, but was quickly repaired after the war. The Kowà ÂnâÂÂSep'o Ch'à Ângnyà Ân section of the line was electrified in September 1980, and the electrification of the Sep'o Ch'à Ângnyà ÂnâÂÂP'yà Ânggang section was completed in early 1986.
The Kangwà Ân Line serves the ports at Wà Ânsan and Munch'à Ân, and a number of industries including the smelter at Munch'à Ân and the May 18th Works; the primary goods received on the line are anthracite, zinc concentrates, coke, solvents etc., while the most important outbound goods include seafood and machinery. There is also a significant amount of through traffic on the line destined for points in North and South Hwanghae on the Ch'à Ângnyà Ân Ich'à Ân line and beyond, such as coking coal imported from China for the Hwanghae Iron & Steel Complex, wood imported from Russia and chemical fertilisers produced in the Hamhà Âng area. At Kalma is located the 4 June Rolling Stock Works, the DPRK's largest manufacturer of railway freight and passenger cars. A number of other important industries are located on the Wà Ânsan Port Line, which connects to the Kangwà Ân Line at Kalma.
The following passenger trains are known to operate on this line:
In the 1980s, there was a passenger service operated between Sariwà Ân and Hamhà Âng which ran via the Ch'à Ângnyà Ân Ich'à Ân line and the Sep'o-Kowon section of the Kangwà Ân line and another between Wà Ânsan and P'yà Ânggang, but this train was not present in the 2002 passenger timetables.
Between WÃ Ânsan and Paehwa stations there is a bypass line under construction which will allow passenger trains to avoid passing through the primarily freight-only Kalma Station.
A yellow background in the "Distance" box indicates that section of the line is not electrified.
This is a short electrified branch to WÃ Ânsan Hwamul (Freight) Station, which is adjacent to the KÃ Âmgang Prime Mover Factory in Kalma-dong; the station has several tracks dedicated to serving the factory.