Pongdong Station

Pongdong 봉동
Korean name
Hangul	봉동역
Hanja	鳳東驛
Revised Romanization	Bongdong-yeok
McCune–Reischauer	Pongdong-yŏk
General information
Location	Pongsan County, North Hwanghae Province North Korea
Owned by	Korean State Railway
History
Opened	1 April 1908
Closed	1950-1953
Rebuilt	2003
Electrified	no
Services
Preceding station   Korean State Railway   Following station Sonha toward P'yŏngyang P'yŏngbu Line P'anmun toward Dorasan (ROK)

Pongdong Station is a railway station located in Pongsan County, North Hwanghae province, North Korea.^[1] It is on located on the P'yŏngbu Line, which was formed from part of the Kyŏngŭi Line to accommodate the shift of the capital from Seoul to P'yŏngyang; though this line physically connects P'yŏngyang to Pusan via Dorasan, in operational reality it ends at Kaesŏng due to the Korean Demilitarized Zone.^[1]

History

Although the Kyŏngŭi Line was originally opened on 3 April 1906, the station itself was opened for passenger and freight service on 1 April 1908, as Hoto Station. It received its current name in July 1945, but the station was closed after the Korean War. The station, as well as the disused section from Kaesŏng across the DMZ to Dorasan, was rebuilt in 2003, and a special train inaugurating the reopened line ran on 17 May 2007. Regular freight service began between Dorasan and the Kaesŏng Industrial Region,^[2] and although passenger service for South Korean workers exists between Dorasan and the Kaesŏng Industrial Area, apart from the inaugural special train, there has been no passenger service to Sonha station. The freight and passenger services have been interrupted several times as a result of political events between North and South that have caused the closure of the industrial district; it was most recently reopened on 16 September 2013 after a five-month shutdown.^[3]

References

1. Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), ISBN 978-4-10-303731-6
2. "First Regular Train Service Crossess Inter-Korean Border". Korea Report. 11 December 2007. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
3. K .J. Kwon (16 September 2013). "North and South Korea reopen Kaesong Industrial Complex". CNN. Retrieved 17 January 2014.

Coordinates: 37°56′48″N 126°37′19″E / 37.9468°N 126.6219°E