Juche-class EMU

The Juche-class (Korean: 주체) is a 4-part electric multiple unit built by the Kim Chong-t'ae Electric Locomotive Works in 1976, intended for high speed train service for the Korean State Railway.[1]

Juche
The Juche-class EMU at its unveiling after refurbishment.
Type and origin
Power typeElectric
BuilderKim Chong-t'ae Works
 North Korea
Build date1976
Specifications
Gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in)
Electric system/s3,000 V DC + 25 kV 60 Hz AC
Current pickup(s)Pantographs
CouplersAAR knuckle
Career
Operators Korean State Railway
Class주체
Number in class1 set

Description

Electric railcars had been used in Korea before the war by the Kŭmgangsan Electric Railway,[2] and these were used by Korean State Railway until the line was destroyed during the Korean War,[3] 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[4] and the ER200 class introduced by the Soviet Railways in 1974,[5] led the Railway Ministry to direct efforts towards the development of a high-speed train for North Korea, resulting the unveiling of North Korea's first electric trainset, the Juche-class EMU, in 1976.[1] 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.[6]

Operation

Trials were carried out around P'yŏngyang, but no further sets were built,[6] suggesting that the experiment was deemed a failure. The set remained in storage until 1998, when it was refurbished, repainted, and put into use on a daily commuter service for scientists between P'yŏngyang and Paesanjŏm, taking one hour to cover the 38 km (24 mi) distance each way.[1]

gollark: CC has many problems for this, like:* Most users are kind of noobish and will just use the simplest solution* There's already a massive patchwork of approaches (mostly just direct download)* People will be annoyed at more installation steps since probably you'll end up installing the package manager for one application you want* Libraries are crazy too - most people pass around old pastebin links
gollark: Luarocks is for libraries.
gollark: They have standards bodies and then someone goes off and does their own thing and that gets popular and then they try to merge the popular thing with the standard so we get weird bodges.
gollark: Likely result:one program uses itit's posted on the forums then ignored
gollark: Hahahahathatwillneverwork.

References

  1. Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), p. 95, ISBN 978-4-10-303731-6
  2. "鉄道省革命事績館". www.2427junction.com.
  3. 《기차시간표》(1950년 4월 1일 개정), 북한 교통성 운수국 렬차부 편
  4. Semmens, Peter (1997). High Speed in Japan: Shinkansen - The World's Busiest High-speed Railway. Sheffield, UK: Platform 5 Publishing. ISBN 1-872524-88-5.
  5. Dymant, Yu., Скоростной поезд ЭР200, Наука и жизнь, issue 6, 1974, pp. 42-44
  6. Kokubu, Hayato, 将軍様の鉄道 (Shōgun-sama no Tetsudō), p. 77, ISBN 978-4-10-303731-6
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.