Rail transport in Menghe

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

Menghean Railway, 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.

See also

• Transportation in Donggyŏng