North Korea underground

[Comstock]

Some rare footage here from inside the Pyongyang underground.

The station is impressive but the trains look old. Any ideas where they are from?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-34483658

 

[jamesontheroad]

Currently it's a mix of pre-unification East and West German U-Bahn stock displaced from Berlin.

The former East Berlin trains date from 1978-1982, the west Berlin train date from 1957-1965. The metro apparently opened with some Chinese-built trains, but these were never fully commissioned and the ones that were made their way back to China for use in Beijing.

Incidentally, footage or photos from the Pyongyang metro aren't so rare, it's a regular feature of most tourist visits to the city, albeit on a very carefully controlled itinerary. A quick Google reveals that most pics and video are of just two or three stations, few foreigners get further afield on the network if they are with chaperones.

You'll also notice in the background of the BBC report a number of other western journalists with cameras; this was clearly a carefully controlled visit ahead of the military parades and celebrations this weekend for the 70th anniversary of the Workers' Party.

 

[matt_world2004]

The wide stairwell access to the platform with both trains sharing a large platform actually seems like a really good idea

 

[Howardh]

Interesting. Presumably a highly orchestrated media day? Anyway even a highly censored peep is at least a peep.
Wouldn't mind some of that old stock running my local line, looks quicker and more comfortable than our nodding donkeys - and electric too!

 

[Jordeh]

Wouldn't mind some of that old stock running my local line, looks quicker and more comfortable than our nodding donkeys - and electric too!

Hardly a point that needed to be made in this thread.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

There was last year, I think, a special railtour that had them whizzing around the system at night!

Years ago it did use to be simply two stations for tourists - three for overseas students. However, its now open the entire network

 

[jamesr]

Having recently done it, what really stands out about the Pyongyang metro is that it really isn't that different from any other metro in the world, although, as with other things in NK has a number of strange quirks. The stock receives a "star" for successful completion of 50,000 miles service and a large collection of stars seen as a positive accolade rather than the fact the stock is very old!

It was very surprising how much freedom we were given, and I'm entirely convinced we were travelling on ordinary service trains. We travelled from one station to another, disembarked, and then travelled on another train several trains later to another station several stations on. Every train we saw, and the stations themselves were really busy - equivalent to London middle-of-the-day busy. The stations we stopped at were elaborately decorated, and well appointed. The stations we didn't stop at didn't look as lavishly decorated, but looked in just as good nick as the London Underground.

There are an awful lot of staff, but no more so than in most Chinese metro systems.

If you ever get the chance, go... North Korea is quite certainly the weirdest place you'll ever visit, and, while I wouldn't swap my life for that of a North Korean, the leadership is evil, and they are deprived of a lot of freedoms, most of the supposed weirdness of the place is made up by the western / South Korean press and isn't a reflection of reality.

 

[theironroad]

Having recently done it, what really stands out about the Pyongyang metro is that it really isn't that different from any other metro in the world, although, as with other things in NK has a number of strange quirks. The stock receives a "star" for successful completion of 50,000 miles service and a large collection of stars seen as a positive accolade rather than the fact the stock is very old!

It was very surprising how much freedom we were given, and I'm entirely convinced we were travelling on ordinary service trains. We travelled from one station to another, disembarked, and then travelled on another train several trains later to another station several stations on. Every train we saw, and the stations themselves were really busy - equivalent to London middle-of-the-day busy. The stations we stopped at were elaborately decorated, and well appointed. The stations we didn't stop at didn't look as lavishly decorated, but looked in just as good nick as the London Underground.

There are an awful lot of staff, but no more so than in most Chinese metro systems.

If you ever get the chance, go... North Korea is quite certainly the weirdest place you'll ever visit, and, while I wouldn't swap my life for that of a North Korean, the leadership is evil, and they are deprived of a lot of freedoms, most of the supposed weirdness of the place is made up by the western / South Korean press and isn't a reflection of reality.

Interesting insight. It's been on my list a few years and defo want to go before any changes happen.

 

[thenorthern]

I never understand why but many subway systems in Communist Countries have grand stations such as Pyongyang as well as the USSR era stations in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Are the Pyongyang metro trains still the old Berlin ones? I know the system is one of the cheapest in the world excluding free system as a ticket is something like 1p.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

I never understand why but many subway systems in Communist Countries have grand stations such as Pyongyang as well as the USSR era stations in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Are the Pyongyang metro trains still the old Berlin ones? I know the system is one of the cheapest in the world excluding free system as a ticket is something like 1p.

Because they are also cleverly able to be used as nuclear fall-out shelters

 

[thenorthern]

I have noticed in the video there are a large amount of camera crew visible which shows how controlled North Korea is with all the journalists having to stay in the same place.

What are the railways as a whole like in North Korea as if I remember correctly there are more railways miles or railways there than miles of road.

 

[ainsworth74]

What are the railways as a whole like in North Korea as if I remember correctly there are more railways miles or railways there than miles of road.

There is more miles of railway than paved road but not more miles of railway than roads. There are 7,500km of railways versus 700km of paved road. However there are 25,000km of road in total in North Korea.

Source

 

[jamesontheroad]

What are the railways as a whole like in North Korea as if I remember correctly there are more railways miles or railways there than miles of road.

There is more miles of railway than paved road but not more miles of railway than roads.

About seven years ago two rail enthusiasts from Austria managed to buy valid rail tickets from Vienna to Pyongyang, booking seats on the twice-monthly through coach from Russia to North Korea. They blogged about their amazing trip here. At that time, the route was supposedly closed to foreigners, but by their wit and tenacity, and by managing to buy tickets for what was supposedly an impossible trip, by the time they were on board the North Korean rail employees assumed that they had all the permissions to be there!

(There was some selective fibbing, I believe, as they had North Korean visas issued on the understanding they would arrive in Pyongyang via another means, I believe).

Their blog is a very entertaining and beautifully illustrated story of their trip, including the long trip from the Russian border down to Pyongyang.

 

[thenorthern]

In North Korea I think I read nearly all cars and automobiles are owned by the Government or Military and very few citizens are allowed to own them hence why train travel is more common. There are also sever restrictions on internal movement which is something we have been free to do since Magna Carta.

The first President of North Korea Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il both had a fear of flying so took the train everywhere which given to get to from Pyongyang to Beijing would mean a detour around the Yellow Sea it must have taken ages.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

There are also severe restrictions on internal movement which is something we have been free to do since Magna Carta.

It's not that long (1830s?) since we prevented people on parish relief from moving to adjacent parishes (the parish passport).
This is a pre-echo of the current debate about EU migrants claiming benefit here without paying taxes.
I'm not trying to justify the North Korean system!

 

[TheEdge]

At that time, the route was supposedly closed to foreigners, but by their wit and tenacity, and by managing to buy tickets for what was supposedly an impossible trip, by the time they were on board the North Korean rail employees assumed that they had all the permissions to be there!

Then they have far bigger testes than most. Places I would definitely not try to fib into or out of is North Korea. I could see that going very wrong very very fast if you got unlucky.

 

[jamesr]

Agree, I think they were pretty crazy to do it, although I can understand why they wanted to. Having spent 23 hours in a North Korean Railways coach from Pyongyang to Beijing, I think seven days from Moscow would be rather uncomfortable! I'd personally be more concerned about the staff of the Railway and customs officials etc who probably should not have permitted them to travel to Pyongyang alone.