Introduction
Location
History of Rajin Station

Introduction

Rajin is one of the two cities located in the Rason Special Economic Zone (formerly the Rajin-Sonbong Special Economic Zone). 

Due to Rajin being a port city and a special economic zone, there is a second, freight-only railway station at the city’s port. This line is often used by Chinese and Russian companies who have leased piers in Rajin port. The Koreans are further seeking funding for further such docks expanding from Russia, China and other countries. 

Location 

Rajin located in the far north-east of North Korea is the only region of the country which borders Russia once part of North Hamgyong Province.

Rajin train station is the terminus for two lines of the Korean State Railway, the Pyongra Line, running from Pyongyang to Rajin and the Hambuk Line, running from Chongjin to Rajin via the city of Hoeryong on the Chinese border.

History of Rajin Station

In 1935, the port at Rajin was opened offered as an alternative to the port which already at Sonbong, known at that time as Unggi. 

That same year, the North Chosen Line of the South Manchuria Railway was opened, linking Rajin Station with Samsabong, North Hamgyong and Tumen, China.

During the 1940s, the Hongui Line was later opened, running from Hongui Station (near Rajin on the Hambuk Line) to Khasan in the Soviet Union over the newly opened Russia-Korean Friendship Bridge.

Eventually, in 1965, the Korean State Railway created the “Pyongra Line’ by combining a series of smaller lines built during the Japanese occupation into one single line. The Pyongra Line runs from Pyongyang via Chongjin to Rajin and is the longest rail line on the network.

Any tourists travelling from Pyongyang to Russia will first have to pass through Rajin Station before going onwards on the Hambuk Line and then the Hongui Line before crossing the Tumen River into Russia.

To this day, the railway bridge is the only crossing between Russia and North Korea.

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