Rail transport in Menghe

Rail transport is a major mode of long-distance transportation in Menghe.

Menghe Railways, a state-owned enterprise, has a monopoly on nearly all long-distance rail transport. The state railway monopoly has existed since 1964, though its organization has undergone several changes since then. Municipal public transportation systems are managed by local governments rather than the national railway corporation, with joint management of some commuter rail services. Other notable exceptions include tourist railroads and some short-distance freight lines.

History

First railroads (1860-1901)

The first railroad in Menghe was built in 1860, after the Brothel War opened the country to additional foreign investment. It was a 600mm narrow-gauge railway which ran 49.1 kilometers from the west gate to the Sieuxerrian port cession on the coast of Hwangsa Bay. While ostensibly for moving passengers and light freight between the port and the city, it was also intended to garner Menghean interest in railroad construction, in the hopes of attracting future contracts from the Myŏn dynasty.

The Myŏn dynasty collapsed in 1867, ushering in the beginning of the Three States Period. At the start of this period, the State of Sinyi expelled all foreign advisors from the country, and the Namyang Government in the south was mainly concerned with consolidating its political structure and financing the Rebel Suppressing Army in the north. Seeing an opportunity, an Anglian rail company offered to build a medium-gauge (4 foot 8½ inch) railroad from Sunju to Insŏng with full foreign financing, in return for exclusive rights to civilian passenger and freight operations on the line. The Namyang leaders agreed, and the line began construction in 1869, opening in 1870.

In 1871, Namyang leaders laid out plans for a new long-distance railroad linking the front lines to the country's southern ports, to speed up the movement of arms and reinforcements. The 201-kilometer line from Yŏng'an to Hwasŏng was built first, as transport south of Hwasŏng could be conducted by canal. The 863-kilometer line from Hwasŏng to Insŏng opened in 1874, after three years of construction, allowing trains to cover in less than two days a journey that would take over a week on a river barge. The Chanam-Chŏnjin railroad, another Anglian venture, was built between 1876 and 1878, with a connection to the other mainline at Unchŏn added in 1880. Because the Meng and Ŭm Rivers were over a kilometer wide along their southern reaches, it was not feasible to run rail bridges over them at the time, and rolling stock had to use train ferries at Chŏnjin and Insŏng. This entire network was built in 4ft 8½ inch gauge (1435mm), though the Sylvan-built Altagracia North Line (built 1888-1891) used 1668mm gauge, and a mining route bringing coal to Changban used 2ft 6in (762mm) gauge.

The rival State of Sinyi was slower to embrace railroads, due to its origins as a movement against Western influence. But when faced with the urgent need to reopen shipping between the Meng River canal network and the coastal ports, the Gwangmu Emperor eventually authorized a rail link in the east. Engineers surveyed four possible routes: Ranju to Yŏngsan, Hyangchun to Yŏngsan, Anchŏn to Taekchŏn, and Kimhae to Taekchŏn. While the fourth route was longest, it required the shortest distance through mountainous terrain, and was therefore the least expensive. The section from Kimhae to Dongrŭng opened to traffic in 1877, and the overland section to the highest navigable point on the Gyŏng river opened in 1879; the full route to Taekchŏn was completed in 1880. Two years later, when the Sunchi Emperor ascended to the throne, he ordered that this line be extended to Junggyŏng and Sapo, and moved the capital to Donggyŏng (formerly Kimhae). A separate railway between Songrimsŏng and Baekjin was built between 1879 and 1881, and in 1887-1889 a railway between Songrimsŏng and Jinyi connected it to the rest of the network. Apart from a 760mm coal mine route in North Donghae province, all of Sinyi's railways were built in 914mm (3 foot) narrow gauge, which allowed for smaller and cheaper bridges, tunnels, embankments, and mountainside paths. Sinyi relied extensively on engineers from Fyrland to plan the routes and manufacture specialized equipment, but financed the railways from the military budget, and initially operated a state-run rail service to collect revenue. This service was later privatized in 1889, becoming the Donghae Railway Company.

Indpendently from the other two states, the Uzeri Sultanate built a 426-kilometer railway from Quảng Phả to Hồng Xuyên in 1884-1886. While this route carried some passenger services, it was mainly intended for freight, shipping coal and sugarcane from the northern side of the mountain range to the southern ports for export. The rails were built by a Sieuxerrian company in meter-gauge, and the rolling stock was Sieuxerrian in origin as well.

When the Three States Period ended in 1901, Menghe had roughly 6,600 kilometers of track, including track laid in the Uzeri Sultanate. Unfortunately, because it originated from a variety of independent projects, the network lacked a single unified gauge. Not counting streetcars, at least seven different track gauges were used in total: 600mm, 720mm, 762mm, 914mm, 1000mm, 1435mm, and 1668mm. Of the seven, 914mm and 1435mm were most common, as these were the official track gauges of the State of Sinyi and the Namyang Government, respectively.

Consolidation and expansion (1901-1964)

After the formation of the Federative Republic of Menghe, the Ministry of Railways faced the daunting task of unifying this diverse rail network. The first step was to re-gauge the Sinyi Main Line, which now extended from Chŏnju to Baekjin. Because of the large difference in gauge, it was not possible to re-gauge the existing line using the same sleepers, and because of the high volume of freight, it was necessary to avoid prolonged closures. The eventual solution was to build a set of 1435mm tracks parallel to the original route, shift all traffic onto those tracks, then close down the 914mm tracks and replace them with 1435mm tracks on new sleepers. In the process, the already-crowded single-track route would be replaced with a dual-track corridor. This expensive undertaking began in 1903 and was not fully completed until 1909. Even then, only the main Baekjin-Insŏng portion was in 1435mm: because the original Sinyi route through the Donghae mountains relied extensively on tunnels, bridges, embankments, and switchbacks, all of them with a narrow loading gauge, it was not feasible to re-gauge this portion of the line or add a second set of tracks. Instead, freight and passengers would have to switch trains at a break of gauge where the two sections of track intersected.

During construction, Menghe also built rail bridges across the Ro river at Insŏng and the Meng river north of Hwasŏng. At 945 and 1440 meters long, respectively, these were the longest bridges ever built in Menghe. For the time being, Chŏnjin still relied on a train ferry.

Merging railroad networks also required administrative reforms. For service from Insŏng to Baekjin, the government financed the creation of a new private company, Menghean Federal Railway. Federal Railway was given control of the long-distance mainline, while other lines remained under the control of other private enterprises, such as the Donghae Railway Company. Initially, federal regions could also set their own regulations on track gauge and loading gauge for regional lines, allowing Donghae to keept its extensive 914mm network. This law was revised in 1917 to require 1435mm track and a standard loading gauge on new lines capable of long-distance service.

After re-gauging the Baekjin-Insŏng mainline and bridging the Meng and Ro rivers, Menghean Federal Railway turned its attention to a new project: the Great Northern Railroad, which would open up the interior to development and connect its coal mines to coastal ports and industrial centers. Construction began in 1910; when it finished in 1919, the single-track route covered a total of 1,843 kilometers, linking Suhait with Jinjŏng, Ryŏjin, Hapsŏng, and Songrimsŏng. Paired with new branch lines to coal mines, it contributed to a surge in heavy industry development in the northeast.

As expansion of the network continued, concerns over interoperability led to the so-called "gauge wars." In 1919, Federal Railway sued Donghae Railway on the grounds that its recently completed coastal extension from Anchŏn to Ranju created a "long-distance mainline" and should fall under Federal's ownership. This suit was unsuccessful, but another one in 1921 forced Unryŏng Rail in the southeast to suspend work on a 913mm line from Yŏngjŏng to Gyŏngsan and transfer ownership of the project to Federal, which expanded the gauge to 1435mm, planned a link to Chŏnju, and resumed construction. Meanwhile in the west, Federal built its own track from Insŏng to Pyŏng'an via Chimyang, as the Baekyong Gulf Line via Altagracia and Giju was built in Sylvan 1668mm gauge. The debate peaked in 1926, during a heated legal dispute over whether Federal or Unryŏng had rights to build a new line from Goksan to Musan via Daegok; Unryŏng already had 913mm tracks in the area, but Federal's managers insisted that the route should be built in 1435mm because it would be a strategic coal shipment route. After his coup in 1927, Kwon Chong-hoon decided the matter in Federal's favor, a decision which forced Unryŏng Railways into bankruptcy.

The resolution of the "Gok-gok" case marked the beginning of a harsher standardization policy under the Greater Menghean Empire. A military commander himself, Kwon believed that long-distance rail transport was vital to national defense, and ordered that all new tracks west of the Donghae Mountain Range be built in 1435mm gauge. To enforce this decision, he ordered that the Pyŏng'an-Quảng Phả and Pyŏng'an-Sunju routes be converted to 1435mm gauge. After Fenix Rail, a Sylvan company, refused to comply, Kwon nationalized its assets and transferred them to Federal. Kwon also launched a major nationwide railway building program in an effort to bring more marginal cities onto the line and improve supply lines near the frontiers. This included a separate 1435mm route from Jinyi to Donggyŏng, which finally linked the capital to the Federal network, and which was later expanded to Baekjin via Chŏngdo. It also included an ambitious 2,398-meter road-and-rail bridge at Chŏnjin, completed in 1938, which finally allowed direct service to Chanam.

The first few years of the Pan-Septentrion War brought a renewed boom in railroad construction, as the Greater Menghean Empire sought to boost industrial capacity and supply the front line. Of particular note are four rail lines built into Maverica and one built across Dzhungestan, all of them built with the help of Allied prison labor. As the war progressed, however, new construction and even regular maintenance rolled to a halt, as military planners directed more steel and manpower to military production. Allied bombing damaged many marshalling yards and bridges, including the long bridge across the Meng River at Chŏnjin. The Menghean War of Liberation brought additional damage to the network, as guerilla fighters sabotaged bridges, derailed trains, and pulled up rail spikes to melt down into homemade weapons. The Allied Occupation Authority carried out routine repairs of damaged lines, and even upgraded the Great Northern Railroad to double track, but as the war dragged on, the debt-laden Republic of Menghe government struggled to finance even basic maintenance.

Length of railway track in Menghe in 1944

Track gauge	Distance of track
1435mm	23,937 km
1000mm	346 km
915mm	3,492 km
Dual 1435+1000mm	773 km
Dual 1435+914mm	945 km
Other gauges	469 km
Total	29,962 km

Rail transport in the DPRM (1964-1987)

After their victory in 1964, Communist leaders concluded that urgent action was needed to repair the country's damaged rail network. Their first step was to nationalize all private rail companies in Menghe, placing their assets under the direct management of the Ministry of Railroads. Next, they set out to rationalize the private networks' wide variety of track gauges and loading gauges. By this time, nearly all meter-gauge track in the southwest was on dual-gauge lines; the middle rails were removed, and exclusively 1000mm lines re-gauged. In the east, economic planners concluded that the 914mm network was too vast to re-gauge, especially considering how much of it ran through tunnels. Instead, they condensed the many 914mm loading guages into two standards, one based on the oldest, narrowest lines (D) and one which was initially designed for dual-gauge tracks (N). All new construction would use Form N gauge, and all lines which could not be modified for Form N would use Form D. As many bridges and tunnels had been damaged during thirty years of war, new construction created an opportunity to rebuild damaged lines to Form N standard.

Dimensional regulations

Track gauges

During the late 19th century, Menghe's rail network contained seven different types of track gauge, the result of political fragmentation and privatized construction. Of these types, 1435mm, 1000mm, and 914mm were the most common, with the latter two concentrated in specific regions.

Following the rationalization of the rail network in the late 1960s, the number of gauges was reduced to two: 1435mm and 914mm. Of the two, 1435mm is the most common. Narrow-gauge 914mm is exclusively found in the eastern region (hence the name "Donghae gauge"), and much of it runs on dual-gauge track with a third rail at 1435mm. New track construction in the east has also predominantly used 1435mm gauge.

Platform heights

There are three standard platform heights in use on Menghe Railways's network: 380mm, 550mm, and 1250mm. Other platform heights existed in the early 20th century, especially on private lines with non-standard track gauges, but all have been rebuilt to one of these standards or removed from use.

380mm platform

This was the original standard used by the State of Sinyi in 1875. It was widely built in eastern Menghe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, due to its low cost and the low height of Donghae Railways's passenger cars. This platform height is no longer used in new construction, but it is still present on some rural routes in the east, especially those using Form G loading gauge.

550mm platform

This was the original standard used by the State of Namyang in 1871, and it became widespread under the Greater Menghean Empire. In 1965, the Ministry of Railways required that all new standard-gauge platforms be built to a height of 550mm, and required that all new rolling stock have a 550mm floor height at the entrance. Some 380mm platforms were also rebuilt to a height of 550mm, especially on platforms serving dual-gauge track.

1250mm platform

This platform height was first bought into use in the 2000s, when Menghe built its first high-speed rail line. Because the Themiclesian high-speed trains sold as part of the project had 1250mm floors, it was necessary to build new platforms to this height to accommodate them. As long as high-speed trains had separate platforms from other passenger trains, this was not an issue. Since the late 2010s, however, there has been discussion of whether to upgrade more conventional-speed rail lines to use 1250mm platforms.

While trains with 1250mm floors run routes with exclusively 1250mm platforms, there are a number of routes in the eastern part of the country where a train with a 550mm floor serves both 550mm and 380mm platforms. The Ministry of Railroads rationalization committee concluded that the 170mm (6.7-inch) difference, about the height of a stair step, was small enough for passengers to board the train without difficulty, and did not require 380mm platforms to be raised unless it was part of a larger station overhaul. The vertical gap does, however, make these platforms inaccessible for passengers with wheelchairs or other mobility constraints. This problem has become particularly acute in recent years, as Menghe's narrowing demographic pyramid and its high rural-urban youth migration have contributed to a growing share of elderly in the population in the rural areas served by 380mm stations.

Beginning in the late 2010s, some elderly rights groups have lobbied the Ministry of Transportation to eliminate the vertical gap, either by raising the remaining 380mm platforms or by purchasing rolling stock with a ramp or elevator mechanism. Opponents of changing the regulation have pointed to the high expense of these measures, especially given the low and declining ridership on the remaining 380mm platform routes and the possibility that Menghe Railways will eliminate service to some of them in the next decade. As of June 2020, the Ministry of Transportation is still conducting feasibility studies of these options, and while some new trains slated for delivery in 2021 will feature a wheelchair-elevator car for trial service, there are no plans to make these features mandatory.

See also

• Transportation in Donggyŏng