Electric railcars had been used in Korea before the war by the Kŭmgangsan Electric Railway,[3] and these were used by Korean State Railway until the line was destroyed during the Korean War,[4] and no further electric railcars were used after that for many years. However, the opening of the P'yŏngyang Metro in 1973, along with worldwide attention on high-speed electric trainsets such as the Japanese Shinkansen put into service in 1964[5] and the ER200 class introduced by the Soviet Railways in 1974,[6] led the Railway Ministry to direct efforts towards the development of an electric multiple unit for North Korea, resulting in the unveiling of North Korea's first electric trainset, the Juche-class EMU, in 1976.[2] Externally, the four-car set was similar in appearance to the 181 series trainsets used by the Japanese National Railways on the Kodama limited express of the day; internally, despite all of North Korea's electrification being 3000 V DC, the Juche-class EMU was built for two-system operation - possibly with a view to future operation in South Korea, where AC electrification was used.[7]
Operation[]
Trials were carried out around P'yŏngyang, but no further sets were built.[7] The set was refurbished, repainted, and put into use on a daily commuter service for scientists between P'yŏngyang and Paesanjŏm in 1998, taking one hour to cover the 38 km (24 mi) distance each way.[2]
Philately[]
The train was featured on a stamp issued on 30 April 1987.[8]
^Semmens, Peter (1997). High Speed in Japan: Shinkansen - The World's Busiest High-speed Railway. Sheffield, UK: Platform 5 Publishing. ISBN1-872524-88-5.
^Dymant, Yu., Скоростной поезд ЭР200, Наука и жизнь, issue 6, 1974, pp. 42-44
^ abKokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), p. 77, ISBN978-4-10-303731-6