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Chungbuk Line

Railway line in South Korea

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

The Chungbuk Line (Korean: 충북선; Hanja: 忠北線) is a railway line serving North Chungcheong Province in South Korea. The line connects Jochiwon on the Gyeongbu Line to Bongyang on the Jungang Line, serving the major cities of Cheongju and Chungju en route. Cheongju International Airport is located near the rail line.

01History

Prewar

The first section of the line was opened by the privately owned Chōsen Central Railway in 1921, which became part of the Chōsen Railway (Chōtetsu) in 1923. Chōtetsu then continued to extend the line until 1928 to Chungju as follows:

DateSectionLength
1 November 1921Jochiwon, Cheongju22.7 km
1 May 1923Cheongju-Cheongan (Jeungpyeong)23.9 km
25 December 1928Cheongan, Chungju47.4 km

Plans existed to continue the line from Chungju to Yeongwol, but after the end of Japanese rule this plan was abandoned until 1949, after which the extension was built as the Korean National Railroad's Taebaek Line.

In the November 1942 timetable, the last issued prior to the start of the Pacific War, Chōtetsu operated the following schedule of local passenger services ("R" indicates that train was operated by railcar):

Dist.
Price K. yen1101
R
35103
R
7105
R
9Station nameDist.
Price
K. yen
102102
R
4104
R
61068
2nd cl.3rd cl.2nd cl.3rd cl.
0.0 - - 07:40 08:48 11:40 14:00 16:10 17:30 18:40 20:50 Jochiwon 94.0 6.60 3.30 06:28 09:31 08:25 12:25 14:47 15:51 18:15 20:21
22.7 1.70 0.85 08:45 09:29 12:50 15:30 16:52 18:40 19:22 21:32 Cheongju 71.3 5.00 2.50 05:50 08:50 07:40 11:40 14:05 15:10 17:30 19:40
94.0 6.60 3.30 11:06 ... 15:11 17:56 ... 20:58 ... ... Chungju 0.0 - - ... 06:00 ... 08:50 ... 12:10 ... 16:50

Postwar

Like the other private railways this line was also nationalized after the independence of Korea. The rest section of the line was opened on January 10, 1959.

Upgrade

The double-track construction began on October 20, 1975, and on October 17, 1980, 113.2 km between Jochiwon and Bongyang was double-tracked. During the double-track construction, some sections were relocated. The entire line was electrified on 30 March 2005.

On September 1, 2010, the South Korean government announced a strategic plan to reduce travel times from Seoul to 95% of the country to under 2 hours by 2020. As part of the plan, the Chungbuk Line is to be upgraded for 230 km/h and may see KTX service.

The movie Peppermint Candy was shot near Gongjeon station.

02Route

Station Hangul Hanja Connecting lines
and services
Station
distance
Line
distance
Location
km
Jochiwon 조치원 鳥致院 Gyeongbu
ITX-Saemaeul services
Mugunghwa-ho services
0.0 0.0 Sejong Jochiwon
Osong 오송 五松 Gyeongbu HSR
Osong Line
O-Train
4.4 4.4 N. Chungcheong Cheongju
Cheongju 청주 淸州 7.0 11.4
Ogeunjang 오근장 梧根場 10.1 21.5
Cheongju Int'l Airport 청주공항 淸州空港 2.9 24.4
Naesu 내수 內秀 4.4 28.8
Jeungpyeong 증평 曾坪 7.8 36.6 Jeungpyeong County
Doan 도안 道安 6.2 42.8
Bocheon 보천 甫川 8.7 51.5 Eumseong County
Eumseong 음성 陰城 8.1 59.6
Soi 소이 蘇伊 4.5 64.1
Judeok 주덕 周德 7.8 71.9 Chungju
Dalcheon 달천 達川 7.0 78.9
Chungju 충주 忠州 Jungbunaeryuk Line 3.8 82.7
Mokhaeng 목행 牧杏 5.4 88.1
Dongnyang 동량 東良 4.6 92.7
Samtan 삼탄 三灘 7.9 100.6
Gongjeon 공전 公田 5.8 106.4 Jecheon
Bongyang 봉양 鳳陽 8.6 115.0

03Original route

忠北線 - 충북선 - Chūhoku Line - Chungbuk Line
DistanceStation name
Total; km S2S; km Transcribed, Korean Transcribed, Japanese Hunminjeongeum Hanja/Kanji Connections
0.0 0.0 Jochiwon Chōchiin 조치원 鳥致院 Sentetsu Gyeongbu Line
4.4 4.4 Osong Goshō 오송 五松
7.7 3.3 Wolgok Gekkoku 월곡 月谷
22.7 18.3 Cheongju Shōshū 청주 淸州
32.8 10.1 Ogeunjang Gokonjō 오근장 梧根場
40.1 7.3 Naesu Naishū 내수 內秀
47.9 7.8 Cheongan Shōan 청안 清安
62.8 14.9 Bocheon Fusen 보천 甫川
70.9 8.1 Eumseong Injō 음성 陰城
75.4 4.5 Soi Soi 소이 蘇伊
83.2 7.8 Daesowon Taishōin 대소원 大召院
94.0 10.8 Chungju Chūshū 충주 忠州
Watch videos about Chungbuk LineExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Chungbuk Line, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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