The P'yà Ângdà Âk Line is an electrified standard-gauge trunk line of the Korean State Railway in North Korea running from Taedonggang Station in P'yà Ângyang, where it connects to the P'yà Ângbu, P'yà Ângnam, P'yà Ângra and P'yà Ângà Âi Lines, to Kujang, where it connects to the Manp'o and Ch'à Ângnyà Ân P'arwà Ân Lines. The total length of the line is .
The P'yà Ângdà Âk Line is currently under the jurisdiction of the P'yà Ângyang Railway Bureau (TaedonggangâÂÂHyangwà Ân section), and of the Kaech'à Ân Railway Bureau (Tuillyà ÂngâÂÂKujang section). Economically, it is a very important line, connecting P'yà Ângyang with the coal mining and industrial centres of Pukch'ang, Tà Âkch'à Ân and the South and North P'yà Ângan provinces.
Numerous secondary lines connect to the P'yà Ângdà Âk Line, including those to Ryà Ângdae, Myà Ânghak, Sà Âch'ang and Changsang. Many of these branchlines are to coal mines that send coal to the Pukch'ang Thermal Power Complex, and to other industrial centres and power plants.
There are 38 stations on the line, not including Taedonggang (which "belongs" to the P'yà Ângbu Line), Sinsà Ângch'à Ân (P'yà Ângra Line) and Kujang Ch'à Ângnyà Ân (Manp'o Line). Of these, 33 are regular intermediate stations. There is also a freight station at Mirim, one halt, and three signal stations. Passing through mountainous territory, the P'yà Ângdà Âk Line thus features many bridges and tunnels. Through the Myà Âhyang mountains around Tuillyà Âng the ruling grade is 20â° and the minimum radius of curves is , while on the Sinsà Ângch'à ÂnâÂÂTà Âkch'à Ân section the ruling grade is 17â° with a minimum curve radius of . There are 90 bridges with a total length of , and 52 tunnels with a total length of â 5.4% of the line's length is through tunnels.
The P'yà Ângdà Âk Line was formed by the Korean State Railway by merging the P'yà Ângyang Colliery Line, the Sà Âsà Ân Line, and the Tà Âkpal Line.
The P'yà Ângyang Colliery Line (, '; , ') was opened by the Chosen Government Railway (Sentetsu) in two parts to exploit the rich anthracite deposits of the area. The first section, from P'yà Ângyang to Sadong, was opened on 1 September 1911. Seven years later, on 5 May 1918 a extension from Sadong to Sà Ânghori was opened. The stations at Taedonggang and Sadong were opened in 1911, while the stations at Mirim and Sà Ângho-ri were opened in 1918, and the station at Sà Ân'gyori on 15 October 1920. Sentetsu then opened the station at Ch'à Ângryong and the Myà Ângdang Line on 1 November 1925, followed by the station at Ripsà Ângri and the Kobi Line on 1 November 1934.
Initially, the line was opened as a freight-only line, shipping around of anthracite annually from the mines around Sadong to the Naval Briquette Factory in Tokuyama, Japan, via the port at Namp'o. In 1919, the line was opened to passenger traffic, with two return trips operating between P'yà Ângyang and Sà Ânghori daily; these trains ran with third-class cars only, and a ticket for the full distance cost 40 sen in 1920.
The privately owned West Chosen Central Railway (, '; , ') opened its mainline, called the Sà Âsà Ân Line ("West Chosen Line") from Sà Ânghori to Chang'an (now Namdà Âk) in several stages between 1939 and 1945. The first section, from Sà Ânghori to Sà Ângrà Âm, was opened on 29 June 1939, followed five months later by an extension to P'yà Ângnam Kangdong (now just Kangdong).
On 1 October 1941 the West Chosen Central Railway opened a second section of the Sà Âsà Ân Line, isolated from the first, made up of a mainline running from Sinsà Ângch'à Ân to Pukch'ang and a branchline from Kujà Âng to Chaedong (the Chaedong Line). The two sections of mainline remained isolated from each other until 18 September 1942, when the gap between P'yà Ângnam Kangdong and Sinsà Ângch'à Ân, a distance of was closed. The newly built line did not long remain part of the West Chosen railway, as on 1 April 1944 the line from Sà Ângho-ri all the way to Sinsà Ângch'à Ân was transferred to Sentetsu and incorporated into the P'yà Ângyang Colliery Line.
The West Chosen Central Railway nevertheless continued expanding its truncated mainline, receiving approval from the Railway Bureau on 21 June 1940 to extend its line to TÃ Âkch'Ã Ân and thence onwards to the Changsang coal fields, in order to transport coal from the mines in the area opened in 1938 by the Chosen Anthracite Company. The first of these extensions was a stretch from Pukch'ang to Okch'Ã Ân opened on 28 December 1944, which was followed by a second extension, to Chang'an, opened on 25 May 1945. Tokch'Ã Ân was reached a few months later.
The plan was to continue from Tà Âkch'à Ân via Changsangri to Kujang, where it would link up with Sentetsu's Manp'o Line, and on to P'arwà Ân, but construction of this line - called the Tà Âkp'al Line - was finished only as far as Changsangri by the end of the Pacific War. The terrain beyond Changsangri proved too difficult to work through, necessitating a new route to Kujang. After adding a new station at Hyangjang, from Hyangwà Ân towards Changsangri, construction on what became the current alignment of the line to Kujang began. However, this wasn't completed before war's end; it was only in 1954 after the end of the Korean War that the connection to P'arwà Ân (the line's name came from the two termini, Tà Âkch'à Ân and P'alwà Ân) via Kujang was finally made.
After the end of the Pacific War and subsequent partition of Korea, both the West Chosen Central Railway and the parts of Sentetsu within the newly established DPRK were nationalised, becoming part of the Korean State Railway. The P'yà Ângyang Colliery Line (P'yà ÂngyangâÂÂSinsà Ângch'à Ân) and the Sà Âsà Ân Line (Sinsà Ângch'à ÂnâÂÂTà Âkch'à Ân) were merged to form the P'yà Ângdà Âk Line (the name coming from the two termini, P'yà Ângyang and Tà Âkch'à Ân); after the Tà Âkp'al Line was extended to Kujang after the end of the Korean War, the HyangjangâÂÂKujang was later merged with the P'yà Ângdà Âk Line (the KujangâÂÂP'arwà Ân section became part of the Ch'à Ângnyà Ân P'arwon Line, but the line's name was not changed. Also, the section from Taedonggang to Mirim was subsequently realigned after the end of the Korean War, during which the line was heavily damaged. The new alignment was about longer than the old section. Electrification of the line was completed in June 1979.
On 21 October 2014 a groundbreaking ceremony for the Sà Ângri ("Victory") project to modernise the P'yà Ângnam Line from Namp'o to P'yà Ângyang and the P'yà Ângdà Âk Line from P'yà Ângyang to Chedong 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'yà Ângyang. 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.
On the P'yà Ângdà Âk Line, freight traffic is vastly greater in the southbound direction than northbound - 3.5-8 times greater on the TaedonggangâÂÂSinsà Ângch'à Ân section and 6-15.3 times greater on the Sinsà Ângch'à ÂnâÂÂTà Âkch'à ÂnâÂÂKujang section. The bulk of the southbound freight traffic is anthracite from the coal fields of North and South P'yà Ângan provinces, accounting for anywhere from 55.4% to 99.2% of southbound freight. However, it also accounts for 35.4% of northbound freight on the Sinsà Ângch'à ÂnâÂÂPukch'ang section, as some of the anthracite extracted at the Ryà Ângdae, Chaedong and Solgol mines are shipped to the Pukch'ang Thermal Power Complex - the largest in the DPRK - for fuel.
Cement, ore, stone, fertiliser, wood and metals make up the largest part of northbound cargo. Between Taedonggang and Sinsà Ângch'à Ân it is mostly cement, ore, grain, fertilisers and metals, whilst on the Sinsà Ângch'à ÂnâÂÂTà Âkch'à ÂnâÂÂKujang section it is primarily wood, cement and fertiliser.
Cement is shipped from the Sà Ângho-ri Cement Factory at Sà Ânghori. Steel and metals from the Ch'à Âllima Steel Complex on the P'yà Ângnam Line and from the Hwanghae Iron & Steel Complex at Changch'à Âlli on the Songrim Line are shipped via the P'yà Ângdà Âk Line to various factories along the line, including the Sà Ângri Motor Plant at Tà Âkch'à Ân.
The freight-only station at Mirim is responsible for handling freight for the Taedonggang-guyà Âk, Taesong-guyà Âk and Sadong-guyà Âk districts of P'yà Ângyang. The main commodities arriving there are anthracite from Namdà Âk, Hà Ângryà Âng and elsewhere, and cement from Sà Ânghori.
The freight yard at Kangdong station handles freight for Kangdong and Hoech'ang counties, and for P'yà Ângyang's Samsà Âk-kuyà Âk district. The main commodities arriving there are fertiliser, steel and cement. Cement arrives from the Sà Ânghori Cement Factory, from the 2.8 Cement Complex at West Pongsan on the Pongsan Line, and from Taegà Ân on the Taegà Ân Line. Steel is from the Hwanghae Iron & Steel Works on the Songrim Line, while fertiliser comes from the Namhà Âng Youth Chemical Complex at Namhà Âng on the Namhà Âng Line, from Hà Ângnam and Chisu on the P'yà Ângra Line, and from Namp'o. The main commodities shipped from Kangdong are chrysotile asbestos and thread.
The main commodities arriving at Sà Ângch'à Ân freight yard are anthracite and fertiliser. Anthracite is shipped here from Sà Âch'ang, Namdà Âk, Chaedong and Ryà Ângdae; fertiliser comes from Hà Ângnam and Namhà Âng. The main shipments from Sà Ângch'à Ân are non-ferrous metal ores, sand, tobacco, metal and logs. The ores and logs are shipped to Munch'à Ân and Haeju, while the sand and tobacco is shipped to P'yà Ângyang.
Sà Ânghori and Pukch'à Ân are important stations on the P'yà Ângdà Âk Line. Arriving freight at Sà Ânghori is mostly destined for the Sà Ânghori Cement Factory, including coal from Hà Ângryong, marble from P'yà Ângsan on the P'yà Ângbu Line and gypsum from Sujin on the Tà Âkhyà Ân Line. Although most of the cement produced there is sent to P'yà Ângyang, a portion is sent to places along the P'yà Ângdà Âk Line such as Kangdong, Sà Ângch'à Ân, Pukch'ang and Tà Âkch'à Ân. At Pukch'à Ân the main customer is the massive Pukch'à Ân Thermal Power Complex, receiving tens of thousands of tons coal daily from Okch'à Ân, Ryongsan and Sà Âksan on the Soksan Line, Myà Ânghak, Solgol, Chenam, Hoe'an, Sà Âch'ang, Hyangwà Ân, Changsang and Tà Ângnam. In addition, Pukch'ang has a large aluminium plant, a soybean-processing plant and a machinery factory.
The following passenger trains are known to operate on this line:
A yellow background in the "Distance" box indicates that section of the line is not electrified.